The Trip to New Zealand

 These are some of the pictures I took coming down to New Zealand from Los Angeles.  We flew on an Australian airline called Qantas.  It was a very long flight across the Pacific Ocean - about 14 hours!  We landed in a city called Auckland, but we weren't there for very long.  We waited for about 3 1/2 hours, then we flew on a smaller airplane from Auckland to another city called Christchurch, where the International Antarctic Center and the United States Antarctic Program are.

This is the Airbus A-380.  I saw it at the Los Angeles airport.  It is the biggest passenger airplane in the world - it can carry over 500 passengers!  This wasn't our airplane, but I wished it was!

We flew from Los Angeles, California to Auckland, New Zealand all night long.  It the middle of the night, we crossed over the Equator!  We went from the top half of the world, to the bottom half!

Several hours after crossing the Equator, then we crossed over the International Date Line.  This is when we moved on day ahead of you back home!  My today is your tomorrow, and my yesterday is your today! 

This is the moon and the sunrise over the South Pacific.

This man is wearing a skirt, called a kilt.  He is from a country called Scotland, where it is traditional for men to wear them.  New Zealand is hosting the Rugby World Cup this year and people from all over the world are coming to New Zealand to cheer for their country's rugby teams.  I saw lots and lots of men from Scotland in the Auckland airport wearing their kilts to support their country!

The girl I sat next to on the flight was from New Zealand.  She was very proud of their country's rugby team.  They are called the New Zealand All Blacks, and they are one of the very best rugby teams in the whole world.  Their picture is everywhere here!  During our flight, they were playing the national team from France, and she was very anxious to know if the All Blacks won the game, or not.

When we were at the aiport in Auckland, guess who came in?  The All Blacks rugby team was finished with their game and were coming into the airport.  Everyone started cheering and clapping for them because the All Blacks DID win!  They beat France!

The rugby players were all very big men.  They were also very tired and sore, too!!  Rugby is kind of like our football, but a lot rougher!

It was a little rainy when we got in Auckland, so I couldn't get any good pictures, but it was very, very green and lots of pretty water!  We flew from Auckland, which in on the north island of New Zealand, to Christchurch, which is on the south island.  This is a picture of the small mountains outside of Christchurch to the east.  On the other side of these mountains in the Pacific Ocean.

This was our shuttle from the airport to our hotel.  We thought it was funny that our limosine was pulling a trailer for all of our luggage!

And this is our hotel where we have been staying at.  My room is at the very end of the driveway, the second from the right on the second floor.