We made it!

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Kia Ora everyone!

That's New Zealandish for hello. So, after a 20 hour journey, Ben and I have officially made it safe and sound to NZ. We had a wonderfully easy first flight, only 12.5 hours, on Air Tahiti Nui that held only 80 passengers on a 200 seat plane. We watched lots of movies and we even had our own personal video game system (I kicked Ben's butt in old school Tetris). We then landed in Tahiti where three men in dresses were playing guitar-like instruments and girls in tropical outfits greeted us with flowers to put behind our ears. Tahititi is beautiful, well, at least the airport was and we sleepily, but excitedly boarded the second flight to Auckland for another 6 hour journey. We are in Auckland now, staying at the Aspen house and have already begun site seeing. Yesterday, we walked down the harbor for a nice meal along the water, then walked for ages to Auckland Domain, a beautiful field with lots of gardens and then visited the Auckland museum which was chock full of Maori culture information and information on Volcanos. The time difference is quite interesting, but we can't tell if we're tired because of the 17 hour time difference or the long journey we had. We took a 2.5 hour nap in the morning, and then another 2 hour nap in the afternoon, before heading out to a sushi dinner. Word of advice, when ordering sushi in Auckland, ask for NO wasabi and NO mayonaise because they load it up. In a few minutes, we are going to board a ferry to Rangitoto island to go on a hike for the afternoon. The weater today is not as nice as yesterday but still, nice enough to be outside and not too hot that walking around all day is uncomfortable. We miss you all. Ben says hi, as he waves from the computer next to me. A special shoutout to Dr. Brown, hoping that he is feeling MUCH better, we are thinking about you. Our next stop on Monday, Lake Rorotau is supposed to be gorgeous and hopefully we'll be able to get some pictures up here soon.

We miss you all and intend on updating you as much as possible. Hope everyone is doing well. Hugs and kisses,
Ben and Erica

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Comments

[Christina]

WOW
Wow, this trip sounds amazing. Have fun!

[Rachael/Brutus]

Hey you guys, glad you're having fun and enjoying all that NZ has to offer. It is a really wicked place to visit. Take a walk down 'K' road in Auckland, it has some funky shops and go up north cos it's pretty. As you travel through the North Island be sure to give Wellington a shout out for me. I lived there for 9 months and had a ball! If you visit Rotarua (can't spell) on the way down towards Wellington it stinks - cos of all the sulphur. If you visit Taupo do the Togararo crossing (wrong spelling too but that's the phonetic way). When you get the ferry over to the South Island be sure to go on a walk around the Abel Tasmin too. If you get a nice day, it's lovely. Get walking glaciers too - the Franz Joseph one on the South Island is wicked. Anyway, keep me posted, all sounds fab. Catch you soon, lots of love, Brute xoxox

[Emily Tex]

Question
Hey there world travelers! I know that you are on the other side of the world, but I have a question to ask you both. My professor is taking Tim and I to see an opera at the Kennedy Center and is putting us up for the night at the Watergate hotel. Tim and I are in charge of dinner and I was wondering if you have any suggestions of places to eat that are in walking distance of the hotel (we have an old old man with us so walking distance from an older perspective!) I hope you guys are having better weather! Thanks! Emily