We have begun our journey half way around the world, and on top of that we have survived our first week here on the bottom side of the globe without falling off.
Getting here via; Jacksonville, Huston, L.A., Fiji, and finally AUCKLAND NEW ZEALAND was a good solid 24 hours of travel. Maya spent most of the traveling conquering sudoku puzzles and listening to podcasts; Stuff You Should Know, This American Life, Radio Lab,and TED talks.
I however preferred eating my last 2 bars of SRYLY 80% Dark Chocolate ( Hi Bob! We hope your doing well in Austin!!!) and catching up on some action movies. I made a little marathon of the latest Wolverine movie which I would give 3 out of four stars, and The Lone Ranger which was surprisingly witty and well written so I would give that 8 out of 10 stars because I was waiting for it to end and it seemed to keep finding new reasons to blow things up (I guess that is why I don't normally like action movies that don't involve robots or giant monsters). Fiji Airways was great! I happily give them a full 10 stars out of 10! The food was great, even the breakfast was marvelous.
However nice all the airports, security checks, more airports, a couple of Fiji Bitters, sleep, plane food, and Sudoku puzzles; we were oh so excited to finally get though friendly NZ Immigration and Customs to the other side where we were picked up by my cousins lovely wife!
We then went directly to my favorite store: THE GROCERY STORE where we stocked up on SUPER sharp cheddar, Whitticars chocolate, Marmite, and some other Kiwi essentials. And then we arrived at my Aunts house and were quickly accepted by her cat.
Auckland is a fantastic city full of all spectrum of diversity as it is a mini land of plenty in the middle of the Pacific. Islanders from Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Asians from China, Korea, Japan, Indians, Middle Easterners, Europeans from Germany, Greece, Americans, EVERYONE lives in Auckland. Its pretty fancy and the food is great! My Aunt who has been on holiday has been happy to show us the different neighborhoods and sights to see. We went to Parnell and looked around some fancy shops and some great galleries. There is a great recently abandoned Air Force Base in Hobsonville that was a fantastic walk. We had fish and chips in Devonport and ate ourselves goofy. Rose gardens, sail boats, beautiful walks, craft fairs, produce markets !!! and of course no outing is complete without having a coffee at one of the cities thousands of fantastic cafes.
I even had one famous Kiwi Feijoa Ice Block made by Nice Blocks and it was yummy as bro! And we are very impressed with the AMAZING playgrounds here in Kiwi-land! Check out these pics!
As if we hadn't had an exciting enough first week in Auckland we have even been diving into the music scene. Maya got a ticket to see Lorde in her Auckland concert before heading off to Australia and right after winning TWO Grammys! Maya said she put on a great show and was wonderful! I however went to a jazz concert at a little posh bar downtown and was equally impressed.
Auckland has been great and has always been very nice to me. But in a couple of days we are off to Coromandel and the Driving Creek Railway (mosquitos, sand flies, clay, nude beaches, and Artists). We have planned one more family BBQ, one more trip out on the town, hopefully one more visit with my old Uni Flat Mate and his wife and cuuute baby, and then we are off on the ferry over the gulf to "Coro" (or "The Mandel").
Please report back here soon to see more photos, hear more adventures from your favorite potting duo!!! Let us know hows it going back in the U.S. and we will see if these styling boots are a match for the clay hills of the Driving Creek Railway !!!
