New Zealand - The beginning...

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I made it! After a total of 26 hours on 2 planes I arrived safely, though travel-worn, in Auckland, New Zealand. The trip was pretty boring except for when I was escorted to my next plane in Hong Kong due to my Toronto-HK flight being late. Didn't have to run this time though, so that was a bonus.

After a painless trip through customs and quarantine, I was greeted by my friend, and travel-buddy for the next couple months, Deb. For those that don't know, Deb and I were both English teachers in the same town in Japan last year, and have been through some interesting things together. I hadn't seen her since saying goodbye in August, so I was pretty stoked to see her and start my trip!

We dropped my things off at Deb's aunt's house and then we roamed the city for a few hours. Auckland's city centre is tiny compared to other cities I've been to (which is understandable with only a million people), but I really like Auckland because of it. Pretty much wherever we went we got a nice view of the SkyTower (which is much smaller than the CN Tower, but nice in it's own right), and many of the surrounding volanoes (Auckland was built on 5 volcanoes).

One of the funniest moments I had in Auckland was with Deb's cousins. They were hilarious. They are 6, 10, and 12 and were having fun making fun of my accent. We played a game of "how do you say" which ended with them bursting into laughter everytime I said something "strange". They were also my unofficial guides to the "locals" and they taught me about cricket and the NZ school system, among other things.

On Sunday, we said goodbye to Auckland and drove 2.5 hours north to Deb's hometown of Whangarei, where we've been for the past couple days. I've gone on a couple walks around her house to see a waterfall and a beautiful lookout of the city, as well as spending a day at her beach house where I saw dolphins. The scenery around here is gorgeous! Beautiful blue skys with lots of clouds, rolling green hills with tons of cows and sheep, and sparkling blue oceans. Sounds corny, but it's true!

Tomorrow begins the first of our roadtrips. We're going to spend a week in the North then come back for Deb's brother's 21st birthday party, and then we'll venture south for a month and a half. I can't wait!

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