I spoke too soon !

Well we're here in Christchurch. Have had a little tea and cookies and just took a quick drive around before dinner. It's lovely here ... a balmy 25. Here's the saga ... just before boarding in Vancouver the rain turned to snow, lots of wet & freezing snow. We boarded on time and then waited, waited & waited. 4 hours later and two deicings we finally took off. We heard afterward that other domestic flights were turned back and the road into was closed. Delayed but lucky. Needless to say everyone on board missed connections. The flight was otherwise uneventful. 14 hours and 10 minutes to Auckland. Because of the missed connections we had to pick up our bags, clear customs in Auckland, get re-ticketed, then hoof it over to the Domestic Terminal. Great weather ... warm and humid ... luckily we made it with 5 minutes to spare before boarding. Finally arrived in Christchurch shortly after 12noon local time Tuesday January 6th. Picked up our rental car and made it to our friends, Helen & Graeme, where we will be staying for two nights. Tomorrow Helen & Graeme are taking us touring for the day. Can't wait. The weather forecast is great.