We made it to New Zealand!!!

Ok, I think its safe to say that we are all traveled out. We started our trip at 5:00pm on the 29th of April and arrived at 10:00 pm on the 1st of May. We have no clue where Saturday went! Our trip consisted of three flights: LA to Brisbane, Brisbane to Christchurch, and then from Christchurch to Wellington. In Christchurch, we met up with the Australian Team and were greeted and treated to a very tasty dinner at the airport by the members of the New Zealand Pony Club board. Our travels did not end in Wellington; we took an hour and a half guided bus trip from Wellington to Makahika Lodge.

Unfortunately, when we arrived at the Lodge we could not see how beautiful it was because the power was out! The winds had reached nearly 50 miles per hour and some power lines had been knocked down. It was a bit difficult at first to find everything (or see anything), but we got out the flashlights, or should I say torches, and it was no big deal. We met up with the other teams from Hong Kong, Canada, and of course, New Zealand. Everyone was so welcoming in spite of the minor power glitch. The owners of the lodge went above and beyond to get us all settled in with sleeping bags, pillows, towels, and delicious food. But we didn’t last long and quickly fell asleep on our cozy bunk beds.

This morning we woke up super early, actually our alarm was set an hour too early, and we prepared for our day of team building activities. The activities included abseiling (repelling) down a large rock, rock climbing and perhaps the most fun, the Flying Fox, which turned out to be a huge zip line through the New Zealand “bush”! SO FUN! Even Janna and Robyn took a turn! We also navigated a low ropes course, which was without a doubt the most hysterical part of the day. It was an entire course of low ropes where you had to move from point to point on thin cables about a foot off the ground. There was also an obstacle with a rope that we had to swing across to a very small platform. We took the challenge to move as many people as possible onto the platform; the past record was 16 people but we broke it with 18!

Right now we are enjoying some much appreciated down time at the Lodge before dinner. Tomorrow is our first competition, a “bush” navigation competition (no horses involved), followed by a night camping in the “bush”. Let’s hope the rain holds off!!