Friday 2nd December 2016

Home from staff meeting and change. Here we go. Pat the dogs and close the gate. Into Penny's car late because Michael had done "everything", except make the second bed. It was hot work because it was 33 degrees. Our holiday was beginning. We had a drink at the airport and then said our goodbyes to Penny and Paul. The plane to Brisbane was on time and we arrived in Brisbane to be greeted by Lisa who leant us a car.  We arrived at Kanowskis for dinner at 7 but Theresa was late. We went to the Thai at St Lucia with Tony, Matthew and Axel. We had a fun night and ordered Theresa's take away and headed home. We went to bed.

Day 2 Saturday 3 December 2016.
We awoke warm but rested and organised to have breakfast at Hamilton not realising that a cruise ship had must arrived. Lots of bleary eyed passengers and bodies collapsed on the footpath waiting for lifts - possibly a schoolies cruise?
We met up with Cathy and Peter, Lisa, Theresa and Tony. Our one prerequisite being air con according to Theresa.

We chose the Bald Man and waited for 5 minutes for it to open. We did a lot of chattering and we're leaving by 8:45 and headed to the airport. We parked at Hertz and returned Lisa's keys said our goodbyes and headed to Air New Zealand.

Travelling premium economy afforded us some benefits including quick check in. We battled the machines but were quickly rescued by a lovely man who looked after us and sent us to the counter. This time I did it try my hand luggage on the scales (it was over yesterday) and made our way quickly through emigration and I into duty free.

We did buy a pair of Bose headphones and a koala for one of Cherie's grand daughters and a table runner for someone.  We then made our phone calls to various people and waited for the flight to Auckland.

The plane was a surprise! We were directed to the second cabin and had seats 20 D and E. It was so luxurious. We had pillows, yes actual pillows. And big roomy seats. And other assorted luxuries. And our own loos! We settled back and had admiring comments and epithets - they were jealous. After take off we were served meals which tasted pleasant but were enormous. We then settled for the rest of the flight. Auckland airport was full of people and we found loos and wandered around. I found that I was missing a toothbrush so purchased one on my credit card!

Boarding for the second flight was a disorganised affair - and was delayed.  Finally we were boarded. We had seats 27 D and E this time and a blanket and toiletry pack added to the mix.

Dinner was another nice meal and then we settled down to sleep. I didn't sleep for long periods of time because I didn't bend around the seat. I was left with aching knees and sore ribs. But, hey I did have a posh seat. I watched some TV and generally mucked around until breakfast which I ate knowing that my next meal could be a long way away. We saw quite a bit of California coming in to land and then we were in LA.

It was with some sense of doom that we disembarked having heard horror stories of LAX.  We were pleasantly surprised. The automatic machines had us baffled for fingerprinting. But with help we mastered it. Then we joined another queue to be checked and photographed and fingerprinted again! Who knows why? We collected our bags and then joined another queue for I don't know what reason but it was very slow moving and then we came out.

We asked directions to terminal 5 and set off. Did I say that we were an hour late landing? We wondered along with our luggage cart and us and found terminal five after a walk. The pollution was quite bad and I was thankful to go back inside to "fresh air". We were faced with more machines and collected our tickets. Then we checked in.

With a three hour wait we wandered the shops, saw the $10.00 sandwiches - they were large and then found a seat. We moved between the seat and wandering until our plane was called. We were entertained by offers of $500.00 to not fly to Hawaii and various other places. A man near us rebooked his car from Los Vegas to LA having been offloaded and secured a good deal and cheaper - lucky him. I checked emails and sent Kerry a birthday greeting because it was still her birthday!

Our flight was called and it was a shemozzle. One check in agent with strange English and a check in that wasn't working. Our seats were reassigned and he said that we were being downgraded to an inferior plane. Lordy me what we were flying on? It was an Embrer which had more room than the Australian ones. So much for a downgrade.

We took off for Sacramento and to Cherie. We landed on time after a snack of peanuts (obviously anaphylaxis is not considered in the US) and water. Other things were on offer but I was by now quite tired. Michael had made contact with Cherie and we collected our luggage and waited outside. It was cool but I survived. Cherie had to do a block whist we waited for our luggage. We piled in and headed for Auburn. By this stage it was dark and I had no idea where we were. We arrived at 145 Duncan Hill Rd Auburn (which is also a guest house) and settled into the apartment downstairs. The roar of the freeway cannot be heard inside. We washed and changed and headed up. Ken is about to have a bone marrow transplant to attack his brain cancer so we had to rewards our hands at the door. He is under the care of Stanford university and does daily blood tests somewhere local.

We had an excellent chicken pie and talked until I had to excuse myself and fall into bed.

Day 2 Sunday 4th December 2016
We woke about 6 am and lazed around. I washed my underwear and then we headed upstairs. After washing our hands we walked in. We had a breakfast of scrambled eggs made by me and other things and then went on a guided tour of the gardens which are extensive for two arborists. We then walked the dog along the water way left from the gold rushes and began our day.  Today was going to be a big day.

We began with a quick tour of Auburn the old town and the down town areas and then headed east on interstate 86 (I think) for Truckee. We quickly ascended to the snow and there were quite a few people frolicking in the snow. Even some skiers. We passed 7000 ft above sea level and headed into Truckee a very pretty village without a mall in sight.

We had lunch at Squeeze In. I ordered with trepidation not knowing what size meal I would find. I ordered a burger with mushrooms and enjoyed half of it and didn't pick it up in my fingers which bemused our American cousins. Micky came too - Cherie's grandson. He's 25 and still in college having studied maths and welding.

We wandered along Truckee's Main Street and found some interesting shops. It's a definite must visit. We then had to push onto Reno Nevada about 40 minutes away and Cherie's son and daughter-in-law and granddaughter.  We arrived on time and met Brian, Sarah and Rossi. Yes, she is named for Valentino. Michael thought this perfectly acceptable but would have preferred Casey for obvious reasons. We spent an hour catching up and being entertained by Rossi who was determined not to sleep. She quite liked her koala.

After an hour it was time to push onto Lake Tahoe. On the way we passed by Mt Rose and were at 8,900 ft. The skiing up,there is wonderful. We had left the height mountain deserts of Reno for the mountains. Lake Tahoe is a high lake and is quite beautiful. It is a very alpine town with no town centre but neighbourhood areas. We saw quite a bit of Incline and south shore. The lake is 60 miles around. We left Lake Tahoe for Truckee and pit stop before heading home in the dark. Cherie did all the driving and it was exhausting.

We arrived home to a stir fry prepared by Ken.  We changed used the hand sanitiser by the door and had dinner. Again I excused myself and went to bed. Tomorrow is a local adventure.