Tauranga

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We left San Francisco on Thursday the 12th, and when we got to the airport around 3p, we found out our flight to L.A. had been canceled. After waiting in a line for awhile, and talking to a United agent for an hour, we got booked on a flight to Sydney at 10:40p that arrived around 8am, then a flight to Auckland around 1:30p or so. The flight to Sydney was alright. We mostly slept the whole time -- even me! The entertainment system was broken, so for 16 hours the only thing to watch was our flight progress. Our flight to Auckland on Air New Zealand was really nice. Personal screens, shepherd's pie and ice cream for lunch! All this on a 3.5 hour flight!

When we finally got into Auckland , we booked a bus ticket to Tauranga for the next day, and got a shuttle to our hotel. We met a guy who worked at NASA in the shuttle. It's funny how you can meet people far away that live so close to you at home. At the hotel we realized Adam had misplaced his ATM card. The girl at the front desk was super friendly and helpful. We went and used some internet at this cafe across the street that was set up like a gaming cafe. We got some dinner, and went to sleep.

In the morning Adam continued his calling the airport for his card, but no luck. He left his info with the hotel, and we grabbed some lunch and headed to our bus.

The bus ride was about 4.30 hours or so. I nodded in and out of sleep, and the drive was really pretty. Finally we reached Tauranga shortly after 5pm. The i-Site was closed, but a lady in there gave us a map. We walked around for awhile, found some free internet on a bench, and eventually got a hostel by the bay. We called the guy with the van, and set up to meet him that night after dinner. For dinner we went and got fish and chips at a local 'famous' fish market right on the bay. It was so fresh, greasy, and good. We met Mike, checked out the van, and took it for a test drive. It's a 4-speed column mounted manual, and has dualies in the back. The front chairs are actually right on top of the tiny engine. It's a lemon pie color with burgundy colored blinds. There is a bed, and a small kitchen area in it. It's pretty sweet. We went to bed and said we'd call in the morning with a decision.

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