Vancouver

 Arrived safely in Vancouver after a slightly delayed take off.  The pilot kept mentioning that we had an extra heavy flight and needed a longer runway.  He also mentioned that some cargo may need to be removed because of the weight.  A sure fire way to ensure the anxiety levels were elevated!  He also said that we were going to fly through the thunder storm that had hit Auckland earlier in the day and would experience some heavy turbulence for about an hour - great!!  Thankfully we were able to take off, made it through the weather system and then encountered many more as we bumped our way across the Pacific.  Have to say that the Air New Zealand service was outstanding- not something we have experienced on previous trips,

Flying into Vancouver reminded us a lot of New Zealand on a much bigger scale.  Glorious sunny, warm weather and lots of signs of spring.  Another bonus was the safe arrival of our bags, having bid them farewell in Dunedin.

Our hotel is close to the airport and in an area with lots of high intensity apartment blocks.  There's a really diverse cultural mix and lots of Asian supermarkets.  Over the road is an enormous Cisco Warehouse.  Just watching the massive trolleys full of goods that people come out with is entertaining.

At that horrible stage of knowing that it is too early to sleep but not feeling like doing anything, so we went for a walk.  Dinner was KFC - mainly because it was close by.  We forgot that 'large' in this part of the world is not the same as at home.  We'll be having chicken for lunch tomorrow as well.

Next door is a Tesla agency which has a couple of cyber trucks in the car park.  Couldn't resist going to have a look at one in real life.  Lots of huge utes driving everywhere.  At least the car parks are designed with enough room to accomodate them. 

After a (hopefully) good sleep tonight, we will go back to the airport to collect our rental car and begin our mini Canadian roadie.