Arrival!

Happy New Year to all. I've arrived in New Zealand safely and soundly. The brief rundown, for those of you to whom I've not yet written, is that everything's gone very well at this point! I'm here, and I appear to be in good condition.
For the first, all of the timing on my flights was spot-on. I had plenty of time in San Francisco to leave security and retrieve my international boarding passes - a task at which I was initially annoyed, as the United agent in Minneapolis confusingly refused to issue boarding passes for flights outside the U.S. due to her aroused suspicion at the inspection of my work visa - and, upon reentering security, again found time to eat some airport sushi and have a short rest at the gate before boarding the long flight. The twelve and a half hour flight from San Fran to Auckland passed quickly (and groggily) thanks to the Advil PM I received in a Christmas care package from the lovely Laura Fulk, and before I knew it I was zombie-ing from the international terminal to the domestic through heavy rainfall. It was a short island hop to Nelson on a Bombardier Q300 through more rain, and I was excited out of my mind to land and meet my lovely ladyfriend once again.
Corina and I spent a couple hours at her brother and sister-in-law's house in Stoke, just outside of Nelson proper, watching Corina's nephew, Ozzy. Despite being a little coldish, he was in high spirits; and whether or not he remembered me from my last visit, we took to each other quickly. He's a hilarious little one-year-old, and a real high-energy little brute. I like him.
The rain cleared mid-day on New Year's Eve, and after Corina and I ventured into town for the Saturday market, we wandered a few blocks with her father, got some coffee, and returned home to prep for the night.
Corina's dad (Dennis), her grandfather (Ed) and his girlfriend (Dot) came around to pick us up, and Corina and I spent New Year's Eve back out in Stoke at Damien and Celia's. Several of their friends came over with their kids, and we had a very low-key night complete with a beautiful sunset (photo above).
Yesterday, as is typical of a New Year's Day, Corina and I did practically nothing. We made it into town for lunch with her friends Ren and Jo; it was lovely to meet them, and as a bonus I got my first taste of fish in the orange roughy with cajun potatoes and green beans I ordered at the restaurant. After lunch, we swung by the supermarket, then spent the afternoon lying around reading.
It's been a very relaxed time thus far. I'm getting a nagging itch at the back of my mind, meant to remind me that very soon it's time for a job search, but right now I feel very much like I've returned to the most wonderful vacation I could ask for.
I hope you're all finding 2012 to be wonderful, or at least agreeable. My hopes are running high right now. All seems to be wonderful.