Why 1(ish)? Because wow when you travel down here do the days and hours get lost. Day 1 was just a bit a bit under 48 hours long. We left December 23rd in the morning and landed in Auckland December 25th in the morning. I had intentionally booked an early morning flight to LA to give us the whole day there to bounce around and get nice and tired ahead of the evening flight to Auckland. It worked out well! We left our home at 3:00am and shortly after boarding the big plane at 9:00pm, everyone slept a good portion of the 12-hour flight. In Auckland, we landed mostly ready to go, very tired to be sure, but able to explore and go to bed at a reasonable time. So we got through customs, got our car, and headed to the hotel to get started. First note, they drive on the left side of the road here. So I am indeed tired, unsure what day it is, and having to navigate the streets of Auckland while flipping all the roads (and the side of the car). So far, no problems.
We got to our hotel, the 5-star Park Hyatt Auckland, and it is magical. Right on waterfront with the SkyTower out our door with many yachts a stone through away (very tempting). We got two rooms for the adults and kids because why not. After some breakfast and showering, we got to the business of Christmas Day. We heard Christmas in New Zealand meant going to the beach (!!), but a rainy day kept us inside and around the area. Katy expertly traveled with all the stocking gifts and wrapping paper so we went to our respective rooms and prepared what has to be the most unique Xmas morning ever. On the balcony overlooking the city, we opened our gifts and ate lots of sugar; really just perfect. From there, we explored the area a bit, swam in the amazing infinity pool, and just enjoyed being there. At no point did we fully understand what day it was, but who cares! Adding to that confusion was the fact that we flew from Colorado where it was just the shortest day of year (Winter Solstice) to New Zealand where it was the longest (Summer Solstice). So it was light at 9pm, we lost a day over the Pacific, we were gearing up for many days of exploring, and everything so far was working perfectly. Yeah Day 1.
New Zealand Day 2
We got to our hotel, the 5-star Park Hyatt Auckland, and it is magical. Right on waterfront with the SkyTower out our door with many yachts a stone through away (very tempting). We got two rooms for the adults and kids because why not. After some breakfast and showering, we got to the business of Christmas Day. We heard Christmas in New Zealand meant going to the beach (!!), but a rainy day kept us inside and around the area. Katy expertly traveled with all the stocking gifts and wrapping paper so we went to our respective rooms and prepared what has to be the most unique Xmas morning ever. On the balcony overlooking the city, we opened our gifts and ate lots of sugar; really just perfect. From there, we explored the area a bit, swam in the amazing infinity pool, and just enjoyed being there. At no point did we fully understand what day it was, but who cares! Adding to that confusion was the fact that we flew from Colorado where it was just the shortest day of year (Winter Solstice) to New Zealand where it was the longest (Summer Solstice). So it was light at 9pm, we lost a day over the Pacific, we were gearing up for many days of exploring, and everything so far was working perfectly. Yeah Day 1.
New Zealand Day 2
