Land of the Kiwi's!

I gave us an extra day in Whangarei so we would have a day to unwind and explore before our SCUBA class began. It was a good thing I did because now the extra day was used as make up. A severe sandstorm rolled in over night preventing our departure from Baghdad International Airport. We spent much of the day with our fingers crossed hoping our airline wouldn’t give up. The view through the window teased us with occasional let ups but by mid afternoon, it was clear we weren’t going to be leaving soon. The day ended with our heads bowed in disappointment as we hitched a ride back to our camp. I spent the evening revising our reservations and cleaning off the sand from my clothes and body by doing a quick load of laundry and showering. Why is it we can never get out without SOMETHING going wrong?
We managed to convince our ride to pick us up earlier than usual the following morning. The airport is horrible the day following a airport closing as all the delayed passengers try to make up for lost time by getting out on the earliest flight possible. Many people actually camp out inside the airport just so they don’t lose their spot in line. Despite leaving for the evening, our timing worked out and we made it through. We also flew on a different airline than usual. I have to give it a thumbs up. It was the last airline to cancel their flights during the sand storm and the overall service was decent. The only odd thing was that we weren’t actually assigned seats. It was a first come, first serve policy. We did get seats together but there were quite a few people who were not amused at the lack of organization on seating.
This was our first time actually leaving the Dubai airport during transit. We were welcomed by long lines through passport control (to be expected) and crowds of people waiting for their loved ones to leave the airport. It was not a pleasant exit. There wasn’t a clear path to the taxi area so we had to shove through the masses.
A relatively short taxi ride later, we were relaxing in a decent hotel at the heart of the city. The modern architecture on the way was stunning. I had hoped that we would spend part of the afternoon walking the city.  Wouldn’t you know it. We got lazy and spent the afternoon lounging. Haha. Maybe next time.
Our flight to Auckland went well but it was soooooo long. We had two stops on the way that required us to disembark and then reload a half hour to and hour later. It was a nice opportunity to stretch the legs and visit with the security folks as they dug through our carry on belongings.
First stop upon arrival was the car rental office. We ended up with a nice rental. I had also loaded our TomTom with the New Zealand map prior to our trip so while Mike set up the TomTom, I wandered in the correct general direction. This ended up being a little frustrating as the TomTom decided not to play nice and my instinct for direction started to fail on me. It was easy when all the roads seemed to be main route but once it all went to residental..I didn’t have the slightest inclination which way was correct. We eventually conceded to looking at the map, plotted our general course and then Mike began trouble shooting the TomTom some more. Eventually, he got it working (Phew!) but there is still something funky going on. I will have to look at it later.

Our drive took us to Whangarei by early evening and the views along the way were stunning. (Had we been more motivated, we would have been snapping pictures left and right.......) We sat down for a decent dinner at the hotel and settled into our hotel room. We managed to get Mike all that he wanted in the room: cleanliness, a balcony, and a mini bar. Since we no longer have the full day of downtime, tomorrow we’ll be hopping right into our PADI Open Water Diver Course. Woohoo!
Good night!