Day One. Auckland

Flight did not go with out problems.  Showed up to MCI without my passport.  Miscommunication between amber and i.  I thought amber had both, she thought we each had our own.  Panic ensued.  Luckly we were there quite early, ambers parents were able to run the passport up with plenty of time left.  Flight to LA was uneventful.  Unfortunately we spent 10 hours in LAX, waiting for our flight to new Zealand.  The terminal we were at was very small, and i was quickly bored with the place.  We had a wide assortment of 10-15 dollars crappy burgers to eat, and $3.35 bottles of soda or water.  I decided i hate LAX.

The overseas flight was, as expected, very long (13 hours).  Seating to the 747 was a bit cramped, and sleeping was nearly impossible.  Amber and i got appoximately 2 hours of sleep the night before, so we arrived at Auckland very very tired.  The flight did have alot of entertainment options, and the flight staff were very nice and helpful.  Highly reccomend Air New Zealand.  The flight meals were decent, what i would expect from a coach flight.  However, they did provide a variety of New Zealand wines and champange, free of charge.  That was pretty nice.  I was very hurried in our trip planning (silly medical school applications were getting in the way), and i failed to note that we fly out on the 17th, but don't arrive in Auckland until the 19th...stupid international date line.  I had to adjust plans to fit ( i was expecting we would be in on the 18th), but luckly very little we have planned is booked for a specific date.

We arrived in Auckland around 6:30 AM on the 19th.  The sun was catching up with us just before landing, got to watch sunrise on New Zealand from the plane.  Customs requires us to remove all camping gear and have it inspected and cleaned (to remove any invasive species).  We had alot of this.  Quickly caught a bus to a hostel near the exciting parts of Auckland, and began our search for a car.  This was amber and my first experience with a hostel (stayed at a YHA hostel), and i was satisfied.  Decent facilities, everything was clean and well maintained.  Prices were not dirt cheap, but reasonable.

 

Earlier this year i had the opportunity to go to San Fransisco.  AUCKLAND = CHINATOWN.  No joke.  I read in the paper 2/3 of the asian population in NZ live in Auckland. The is probably 30-40 asian restraunts with in walking distance of our hostel (literally).  If you are not in the mood for asian food, tough luck.  We did find one pizza place, a KFC and a wendys, but otherwise its asian.  We tried a Hong-Kong style noodle place, that was pretty decent.  Prices were not as low as i was hoping (9 nz dollars for 1 meal, 1 us dollar = .75 nz dollars), but not terrible. Also, terrain is just like San Fran, super steep, short hills.  Weather is very similar since its costal.

Internet in New Zealand is harder to come by than i had expected, based on what i had read.  Internet is everywhere, but almost nowhere is it free, in fact its quite expensive.  Our hostel has a very slow network for $1 dollar every 15 minutes.  Amber and i found an awesome coffeehouse (chain i believe) here, called Esquires Coffee.  They have free internet with purchase of a drink (only place that we have found so far that does not charge by minute).  They have an awesome drink called the "Flat White," basically a cappichino with very little foam and lots and lots of espresso, love.  This "Flat White" seems to be a new zealand drink of choice, every coffeeshop has it.  Finding a car has been slightly more difficult than i imagined.   There are many many cars to choose from, but everything is more expensive than when i was looking before ( i think because we just entered the start of peak season).  Also, using a phone card is ridiculously expensive.  I made a call this morning to a guy selling a car, got his voicemail, probably a 15 second call, cost me $1.20.  And that was local.  We went and saw a Subaru last night that an Israeli was selling, would have bought it on the spot, except it was a manual.  I don't drive manuals, i don't drive on the left.  Learning to do both at once seemed to be a bad idea.  I was down, amber was not. 
On a more exciting note, we did do some fun things yesterday.  Walked around downtown auckland, going to some small shops.  We went and looked at the Auckland University campus, and went to the Art museum (had a mostly paintings of early Maori people).  The campus clock tower was awesome, but the rest of the campus felt more like a shopping mall than a university.  Seeing as Auckland is the "City of Sails," we whad to go to the wharf to see the yachts (there are alot).  Also climbed a small "mountain" called Mount Roskill, that overlooks auckland.  All considered, Auckland is not that exciting.  I was told this by our very friendly customs worker, and gotten this feeling before we left.  Hopefully we can get a car early on today, and get headed North to the Bay of Islands, where the fun will begin in earnest.  Looked at one car already today, more coming.



Sky Tower from Albert Park





Campus Clock Tower