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Published: February 17th 2008
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Arrival:
Thursday, February 7th, Day 2 or 3?
Well after 18 Hours on one plane, 2 hours in Sydney Australia, 3 on another flight , and then another 2 hours going through customs, I arrived in Auckland, New Zealand on a sunny, warm Thursday afternoon. Now what exactly happened to Wednesday I don’t know, but as far as im concerned, ive travelled to the future. Ok maybe not, the entire voyage did take 24+ hours, but it is an odd concept losing a whole day. Although I didn’t seem to feel very jet lagged, yet. Word of advice, when traveling to other countries, be prepared to have the full customs search if you plan to bring a tent or hiking boots, like I did. Apparently they need to check for insects and fungus. To do this they make you fully unravel your tent, then they look through it for about 10 seconds then tell you to step to the side while you have to re-roll and re pack you tent and shoes.
I had arranged to stay with my friend Dave for the first night and he offered to pick me up from the airport, which was especially cool of
him considering there is no public transport out of the airport to down town Auckland. Which is a 25 minute trip north by car. I made my way through the arrival area and headed outside, Dave wasn’t insight so I checked my cell phone which had full reception (surprisingly) and gave him a call. Apparently he was inside and I had just walked past him while he was playing an arcade game, we greeted, got in his car and we were off.
Its always a little odd being a passenger in a country where the cars are all driven on the right side and reversed traffic direction. A couple of time I felt I should be stepping on the gas or break as I sat where the steering wheel usually is. We drove into town and caught up on things since we had last seen each other. Dave had been in San Francisco in august for the Burning Man festival, and he and his room-mate Karl stayed at mine before and after the event to plan, hang, relax, and decompress. And now I was going to stay at his house, for a night before the Splore festival on the upcoming
Sydney Sites
Harbor Bridge & Opera House - from about 10,000 feet up weekend. Our first stop was his friend Niko’s place, so we bought a case of beer and headed over. There were a bunch of people there hanging around outside enjoying the weather including a couple of other travelers. Frank from Paris and a girl (whose name slips my mind at the moment, but who is a very cool person) from Boston. I then realized that this place wasn’t as isolated and secret as I thought. We hung around and drank and smoked a joint and enjoyed the beautiful weather. I turned out that that the entire house was going to Splore and they offered me a ride which I was immensely appreciative of. Things were definitely on the right path and after a while we left to head to Dave’s house to drop off my bags and get ready to go out that night to hear some local Dub-Step and special guest from England, Dj Distance.
Dave lives in a big house close to downtown, with between 5 to 10 people. Its hard to tell who actually lives there because people are constantly coming and going, but as far as I know, Karl, Poppy, Linus, Chris, Sket and Dave, pay
rent, they and their friends are known as the “Satans” and most had all been at burning man in the states this previous summer, and had just returned from Kiwi burn (NZ’s mini-burning man) the weekend prior. Everyone was very friendly and I immediately felt at home. Oddly within 10 minutes of being there, I heard the second American accent in as many hours coming from a guy named max, A funny young guy from florida who had also been to the burn and was staying here for 3 months just around the corner. We all hung out and had some beers while people came and went and then headed back to Nikos’ to spin some records and head out to hear distance spin.
Dave and I scored a ride from his friend Carlos and we drove a bit into downtown Auckland and then walked the rest of the way. On the way I learned that Thursday nights were the early nights so the venue would only be open until 4am instead of the usual 6am. In California by law, all venues must stop serving alcohol at 2am and therefore most don’t stay open much later than that. So
naturally I was excited about the extended hours, but also secretly concerned that I wouldn’t be able to make it that long, considering I had just got in 6 hours earlier and had no clue what kind of jet lag was waiting for me.
We entered the club (which had no admission) and headed upstairs where to my surprised the place was nicely filled and the vibe seemed extremely positive. Not much unlike San Francisco dub-step shows, just more populated, and more movement. Distance played a great set and I had a couple of beers and danced around a little. Around 2:30 I realized there was another hour and a half of fun to be had, but my body was ready to go home. So instead of wimping out and leaving, I grabbed a seat and talked to a bunch of people about random things, typical club banter, until Dave was ready to go. We walked / stumbled back, on the way I grabbed a tasty chicken kebab and in no time we were back at Dave’s and I passed out on the floor, very satisfied with my first day in the land of the long white cloud.
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Claire
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Keep 'em comin
Sounds like a great start to the adventure! Good to know the kiwi's know how to represent and get down to the some dub-step beats- (speaking of that "check before you dubstep" needs to be made into a shirt, right now.) How's the Kiwi buds? Fantastic, I'm sure! Keep the posts coming man, we're all curious to keep along with your travels...and am definitely awaiting a drunken Munk story of debauchery. BOH! One last thing: Munkey called me last night, DRUNK AS FUCK, and all I could here were yelling meows and music blaring- she was throwing a huge kitty party- you might want to tell Child to check up on her, I'm sure she's hung over and the house is a mess- :)