Greetings from Dunedin, NZ

We had a good trip down.  From the time we left Little Rock, AR to the time we arrived in Dunedin, just about 24 hours went by.  Of those 24 hours, we spent about 16 flying.  We didn't have any long layovers and in fact had to do a bit of running to make our last flight.  Our flight was half an hour late into Aukland, so by the time we cleared passport control and customs, we had to hurry quite a bit.  But we made it, and so did our luggage which was nice because that meant ours was the first luggage off the plane.  The flight from Aukland to Dunedin is beautiful.  I'm not sure how many pictures I took from the window of the plane of the Southern Alps as we flew over.  Photos to follow in a later post.  LilliAnn, my 11 year old niece, did great on the trip.  This was the first time she has flown since she was 4 so this week has been one new experience after another.

After we arrived yesterday, we had lunch with the Woodrows, with whom we are staying.  In an effort to stay awake for the afternoon, we drove around Dunedin taking LilliAnn to some of our favorite lookout spots.  It was a gorgeous sunny afternoon.  We came home about 4:30, managed to stay awake through dinner.  LilliAnn was the first to give up the fight when we let her go to bed at 6 or 6:30.  My goal had been to stay awake until 8... Shirley sent me to bed at 7:30.  After we all got 10 or 12 hours of sleep (maybe 13 or 14 in LilliAnn's case) I think we have beaten the worst of the jetlag.  We'll see about 4 or 5 this afternoon when its approaching midnight at home. 

Tonight we head to camp.  This is Queen's birthday weekend, so most folks have Monday off.  The churches here on the South Island, or at least the Southern part of the Island get together and have a retreat.  I think they are expecting 40+ people.  I'm looking forward to reconnecting with lots of old friends!  I'll try to post again next week from Queenstown.  (It's a rough life.)