The question came via email:

Is everything OK? I cannot remember the last time there was a day without an iLind post.

Thanks for asking, Tim.

Yes, everything is mostly okay.

We boarded an Air New Zealand flight in Honolulu Friday night and arrived this morning in Auckland, NZ, where it was Sunday when we arrived, although still Saturday back in Hawaii. You sort that out.

The short story is that we connected with a cousin who we’ve never met and only relatively recently discovered. Pene’s grandfather and my grandfather were brothers. She responded to a post my sister, Bonnie, left on a genealogical online forum about our Lind family. Before hooking up with Bonnie, Pene thought there were no other relatives in our Lind family line. So we got to our hotel early this morning, too early to check into our room. Instead, we ate breakfast, and then were picked up by Pene and her husband.

We missed the Auckland Santa Parade, apparently a traditional spectacle, but spent the day touring Auckland, viewing the area from several vantage points, stopping for lunch, being treated to a sail on the Lady P, their 38 foot sail boat, then a visit to their home to meet the managerie (two dogs, a mynah bird, a cockatiel, duck, two chickens, a frog, several fish, and who knows what else!). On the way back to our hotel, we stopped at a fantastic supermarket, “Countdown”, then finally were dropped off and checked into our room at the Quadrant Hotel.

We’re exhausted.

Internet connection is still being worked out. We’ve got five devices, only two passwords for wifi access. So we are sorting out technical issues, but are too exhausted, after the red eye flight and the day-long touring, to efficiently sort things out.

So that’s the story. Apart from internet connection issues, everything is okay.

Tomorrow she’s picking us up for a tour of the Auckland Zoo, where she works as a high level volunteer.

I would like to review the Air New Zealand flight and services. I would also like to get a bit of a walk around Auckland before commenting.

I’m hoping to be able to share some photos tomorrow.

Meda’s conference starts early Tuesday, and I’ll have more time to blog once she heads off to work the conference.

So right now I plead fuzzy brain, jet lag, and exhaustion.

More tomorrow.

Really.