New Zealand, The first few days

My adventures were supposed to start on Wednesday the 27th, but life is full of surprises. After days packed full of the insanity that is packing, last minute checks and a thousand trips to the store a day, I was finally at the airport. After emotional goodbyes and last pictures and a sluggishly slow line through security I was off and running. As I made it to the terminal (15 min early) they were closing the gate. When I approached the counter I was told that the flight was leaving early and because they were leaving early, I had missed the flight by 1 minute. After roughly an hour we worked out arrangements for me to fly out the next day and I went home for a peaceful final night with my family.
Twenty four hours came and went and I was off! My first stop was in La. The view out my window was beautiful, the clouds were an endless sea of fluff. 

I then had the amazing opportunity to watch the sunset from above the clouds. 

I love flying at night because the cities look like they are on fire from the lights! The lights in LA seemed to stretch on as far as I could see, even from the air. 

After landing in LA I got off the plane and ran onto my next flight right as they called my ticket number. The 16 hour flight that followed was mostly uneventful, until we were about five hours off the coast of Australia. Because it's not one of my trips until you feel like you're about to die! As we were flying over a patch of islands we hit a bad storm. The plane started falling then would rise, and 

bounced and rattled its way around the sky. It was so rough my nose started to bleed. After thirty minutes that felt like a lifetime, we made our way to the other side of the storm and were shortly greeted by a beautiful sunrise.

Sydney was beautiful and busy. I had a five hour layover and quickly set about to explore the airport and people watch. 

On my way out of Sydney I had the opportunity to briefly see the Sydney Opera house!!! If you look closely you can see it inside the red circle.

On my flight over to New Zealand I watched the Hobbit. I could not think of a more fitting movie to watch on my way to this beautiful land than one of the movies that made me fall in love with it. Finally, I could see the New Zealand shore!!! 

It was so gorgeous, I could not believe I was finally here! I got off the plane absolutely beaming with excite and made my way through customs to find three beautiful smiling faces waiting for me. 

I'm so happy and excited to finally be here!!!