Well so far so good. One of the advantages of seriously dreading such a long flight is that it can't be as bad as imagined. And it wasn't. I worked out an arrangement with 2 blankets and a neck pillow which was nearly comfortable and enjoyed the fairly constant supply of Jasmine tea. I was a bit institutionalised after 24 hours and was quite sad to leave seat 63H - my new home. By the time we did deplane we'd become cigarette mules for a fellow traveller Paul, who invited us to spend Christmas day with him. We sincerely hope we won't be taking him up on his offer as he's intending to spend it on the Coromandel and if we haven't got further than that by then we're in big trouble.
We picked up our car at Auckland airport - supplied by the splendidly named Rent-a-Dent. It was unmarked but not 100% sound mechanically judging by the slightly lurching journey north to the bay of islands.
So, here we are. Sunny pretty and friendly. We get taken first thing tomorrow morning to Cape Reinga, as far north as it gets. And then we head south.....