With a nice early start to head to Queenstown, we were on the road, packed up in the truck, without Dad. We made Dad go in Nicole's car separately because he's boring to travel with and doesn't allow talking.

We made it to the airport, got out and checked in then made our way to the bar where we caught up with the others travelling with us - Bronnie, Derek, Alice, Yvonne, Pete, Paula, Pete, Clarky. Anne and Gavin flew from Invercargill, and Richard and Trudy were in Samoa already.

We all sat down for a chat, breakfast, and drinks then we were on our way through customs to board the plane to Auckland.

We Arrived in Auckland with not much time to spare, but just enough to grab some duty-free and make our way to the plane for the 4-hour flight to Samoa.

The flight went by pretty quickly with several drinks, and the Air NZ staff made a great job of letting everyone know it was Mum's birthday and treating us all amazingly, including a happy 21st birthday card from the team at Air New Zealand.

We arrived at Apia Airport, and the heat hit us. We made our way through customs and were greeted by one of the members of Paradise Resort. Then had a 30-minute drive to the resort.

When we got to the resort Rich and Trudy greeted us with shots!!!! While we checked in, made our way to the rooms, then straight to the bar for some drinks and entertainment from the staff, then we finally made our way to bed for the night ready for a day ahead on the beach.