Touchdown in Kiwi-land

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A mere seventeen, leg-cramping, mind-numbing, head-spinning hours later, we have arrived in Auckland! Pretty solid, uneventful flight. The only two highlights:

1. A very calm, polite British girl of about 5 years of age, stage-whispering to her parents that she "don't want to die!" when the plane was landing. I can only hope my kids are half as polite and half as British.

2. A bunch of New Zealand officials had to come on to the plane to spray down the cabin, bathrooms, basically every nook and cranny...because of one fly. Oh and we were still on board while this was happening. Apparently the one fly that had stowed away onboard at LAX was plotting to overthrow the New Zealand government and destroy the country (much like an insect version of Bane). I actually saw the little bugger in the bathroom...if I had swatted him I would have been a hero.



I thought my first steps on a brand-new continent would be a little more awesome...I actually expected some kick-ass soundtrack to start playing when I stepped off the plane. Instead I just got some of the feeling back in to my legs. We hopped on a bus and headed into downtown Auckland to check out our hostel (K Road City Travellers). Pretty sketch place (though for a 25 dollar per-night hostel...you get what you pay for). I whammed my knee on a sliding glass door two minutes after arriving and was hobbled the rest of the day. Awesome way to start. There was also a very creepy red-headed girl sitting on one of the couches at our hostel staring at the TV. What's so creepy about that, you might ask? Is it that she has red hair? Well yes, of course, that is always somewhat disturbing...but no it was actually because the TV was turned off. It was a black screen. And she just kept staring...unblinking. Shudder.



We decided to explore the town a bit and get away from our sketchy hostel. Downtown Auckland was pretty neat. They have some really cool architecture (Alison was in charge of photos and will be posting a massive number upon our return) and some very amazing trees. Like...ridiculously cool trees. The kind of trees that every young boy dreams of building the ultimate tree fort in. Alison says I got way to into the trees.



We went into this mall that had a cinema in it...but to save space they built up instead of out. A cinema skyscraper, with a neon winding staircase to take you to each level. Very cool....except for the fact that movies are $20 NZD. Forget that. The food court had these tiny birds flying around inside. No one seemed to pay them much attention except for us and some very bewildered Asian tourists.



The entrie downtown area is very hilly...Alison said it reminded her of a straight San Francisco. we walked down to Quay Street, which is where they have their massive wharf. A huge triathlon was going on at the time, which is weird because my last two trips have been to places which are having triathlons. Though that is probably the least exciting coincidence to ever happen to anyone, ever.



It started to rain a bit and we were straight exhausted so after some pizza, we headed off to bed. More to come!

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