AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND ✈️ 🇳🇿

Kia ora 🦋 

Sunday/Monday/Tuesday, April 21/22/23


After I arrived in Santiago from Temuco, I waited for 9 hours in the Santiago airport.


In line for security again


California Pizza Kitchen, of course!


A yummy gluten-free, sugar-free, and lactose-free dessert


Then I flew for 12 ½ hours until finally I arrived in Auckland,  New Zealand on Tuesday morning at 4:45 a.m. 



The Auckland airport



My first hosts from West Auckland came to pick me up at 7:45. (That was 27 total hours in airports or flying from the time the Smiths dropped me off at the airport in Temuco!) Needless to say I am happy to be away from airports for a week and that the flight to Sydney on the 30th is a short one. Monday was lost entirely due to the change of time zones and the long flight. As I write this, my body thinks it’s 7:15 p.m. (Chile time) Monday, and it’s 11:16 a.m. Tuesday here in New Zealand! 


When planning this trip, I made the decision to stop for a week in New Zealand because I saw that flights from Santiago to Sydney had a layover there, and I remembered that New Zealanders Mike & Emma Walker and their teens Ariana & Jacob had stayed with us in December 2022, after having met us at the Christian Surfers International Conference in Carlsbad, California in October 2022. John and Margaret Benn, my first hosts in NZ, are Emma's step dad & mom. They live in Henderson,  West Auckland.

After I rested for a few hours, John and Margaret drove me to Piha Beach, the most popular surfing beach in their area where surf contests are held. 

They brought me a Kiwi Pie (a typical New Zealand food) at a local store. It's a small, handheld savory pie with a very flaky crust. (It reminded me of an empanada.) The only kind the store had left was a vegetable one, but it was tasty. Mincemeat (ground beef) is the most popular kind A bird came and stood right on the table outside where we were eating to eat the crumbs!

The beach was lovely,  and we got to see a few surfers catch a wave.

John & Margaret ⇩


John cooked a delicious dinner of lamb, potatoes,  green beans, and gravy. I went to bed early to catch up on my rest.

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