March 9

Pack. Unpack. Take out half. Put it back. There you are ready to go....
That's what they say anyway. I'm not really sure how many times I packed and repacked, but I was pretty sure it was not all going to fit and I was pretty sure I wouldn't have room for my shopping!! We did so much planning for our NZ trip, it seemed it would never come. I got A's backpack out of the shed, months before I needed it, to see if my items would fit or if I'd need to buy a bigger pack. In the end I decided to go with A's pack as it was clean and easy to carry, most of my gear fit and there was no point wasting $200 on a pack I'd rarely use...
This photo is of all my gear that wouldn't fit into the backpack! I bought a day pack to use as my hand luggage and for our day trips, but with all the bits not fitting into the big backpack I borrowed B's school bag to use as my carry on luggage. Her bag was bigger and had more pockets... I packed my day pack into the big bag as well, to use as my day pack in NZ so I wouldn't have to carry everything with me every day during our vacation. It also doubled up as an extra bag for my shopping if needed.
Initially I had my clothing sorted into stuff it bags (see the red bag) but decided it was probably not making the best use of the space inside the backpack, so I removed the bags and packed my gear straight into the backpack instead. Kat convinced me on one such repacking venture, that I really didn't need 8 pairs of socks and liners, freeing up quite a lot of space, which when we finally got to NZ I was grateful for :)