The big travel day dawned. There was a cycle road race going through Occidental in the morning, so after breakfast and final packing, clearing up the house and saying a last farewell to Guy & Donna we used the Tom Tom to find a new route without flattening anyone on two wheels. The sat nav took us around Sebastopol and we made good time to San Francisco, returned the car and took the bus shuttle then the Sky Train back to the domestic terminal at the airport for our first flight to Los Angeles. I was disappointed not to see the 'Hollywood' sign from the plane but was amazed at how big and sprawled Los Angeles was. We board the plane for Auckland , New Zealand for the next part of the trip. Peter had booked us into Premium Economy for this long bit over the Pacific. Oh what bliss! Loads of leg room as the seats were placed in pairs and angled away from each other with a beanbag to rest your feet on. The seats tilted & sloped enough to be comfortable and there was loads of inflight entertainment. The food was good and to top it all off we both managed to sleep! Something I just never usually manage when flying.
We eventually arrive in Auckland, (having lost Sunday completely with crossing the date line) in the pouring rain. We didn't have to go outside so we weren't bothered comforting ourselves that it would be lovely when we returned in a couple of weeks time. From Auckland we flew to Sydney and walked straight through immigration with no wait fortunately as our last flight to Maroochydore had been brought forward twenty five minutes! I saw the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House from the plane. We arrived at Maroochydore Airport (the Sunshine Coast) and were claiming our luggage when my sister Sallie arrived to collect us. She didn't recognise me at first as I have changed my hairstyle & colour quite drastically since she last saw me. She drove us home to Peregian Springs which is just south of Noosa Heads (a very popular holiday spot) in the pouring rain again!