All About in Auckland

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We're spending a few days in Auckland trying to re-normalize ourselves again for when family gets here. Some of our difficulties:

Toning down our wardrobe. Apparently black is very IN in Auckland where as in Vanuatu bright bright colors are the norm. I have to hide my lime green re-usable shopping bag.

Warming up our wardrobe. A trip to some used clothing stores solved that one.

Remembering we don't have to smile and greet everyone on the street.

Remembering we can't just cross the road wherever and that we have to push buttons for things like the crosswalk light and the elevator.

Using plastic to pay for things again. Which receipt to you keep? Where do you sign? How do you get out of using a PIN number because you haven't used one for 10 months and don't remember it?

Being able to count on having electricity 24-7. No, you don't have to clear the bed and a path to it before going out, we'll just flip on the light when we get back and do it then!

Any time we've forgotten something quite obvious like that we just call each other "man bush," which is like calling someone a hillbilly I suppose, and giggle. Oh, and we tried walking down the street the other day speaking Bislama to each other. No one noticed.



But it's going well. We haven't planned a thing, mostly just roaming around, gulping cold air and enjoying coffee shops and speaking fluent English. We found a cheap, tiny hotel room in downtown Auckland on a last minute deal type website for only NZ $50 per night (less than US$30)! It is definitely tiny, but as we are mostly interested in a bed, warm showers, and the like, it suits us quite well. Plus we're very centrally located as far as downtown Auckland is concerned.

On the shuttle from the airport to the hotel, we spotted a Wendy's and started drooling. We checked in, dumped our stuff, and set off to find it. Instead of waiting for the elevator, we took the fire escape stairs and ended up in some random alley, completely turned around. So we asked a one of the lovely kiwis clad in black to help us find the Wendy's. First, she was confused: "Sorry honey, it's just your accent." Then, she thought we were confused: "You know, down town has lots of lovely restaurants..." Anyhow, we did find it and indulge in a fastfood meal. Awesome! Since then, we've upgraded.

Last night we ate dinner at the Sky Tower, a super tall building, in fact the tallest in the southern hemisphere. An awesome buffet with lots of protein and tons of mini desserts. I thought of Grandpa Larson when I had one plate full of food, then two full of desserts! Always room for ice cream right? Then we spent a good hour walking around the circular observation deck, checking out the roads, buildings, and bays with a birds eye view.

We'll have all that being an upper class tourist stuff out of our system in the next day or so and be ready for some more off the beaten path adventuring with the rest of the crew!

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Photos

Men in Black
No, we're not going to rob a bank. This is our new down town Auckland attire.