Our first destination (Day 1): Auckland!
Some fun facts:
New Zealand has a larger population of sheep than people!
Before humans, NZ had no predators so the indigenous birds have no wings (they never needed to fly away from anything)!
Apparently, there are no apartment buildings in Auckland!
Cops don't carry guns (yay!)
New Zealand is made up of two main islands: North Island and South Island
Let's start with the traditional Maori story of how New Zealand came about (the abridged version):
Maui, the youngest of many brothers, stowed away on his brothers' boat when they went fishing. They were annoyed (what brother wouldn't be) but let him stay. While fishing, they wouldn't share their bait with him, so he used his own blood and sent out his hook, which was made of his grandmother's jaw bone. Using the South Island as his canoe, he caught a fish of enormous proportions and brought it up to the surface. The fish was so big, and Maui's brothers were hungry, so they began chomping off pieces of the fish. When the sun rose, the fish's flesh hardened, and it became the North Island, and the places where his brothers had bit off pieces of the fish became the North Island's unique coastline.
So, the flight was long, but surprisingly bearable. We made a friend on the flight, and had great conversation (when we weren't sleeping or watching movies). The flight went by fairly quickly and we arrived in Auckland airport around 6am (May 27th). We made it through immigration/customs (phew!), and declared everything we had (dried fruit, nuts, everything!) so we'd be sure not to be fined or jailed (they're pretty serious about their ecosystem)! We had a short bus ride downtown (with an Indian bus driver playing Hindi music!) and left the luggage at our hotel to walk the city.
There was light rain here and there, but that didn't stop us for our only day in Auckland! We saw the town, went up the Sky Tower to catch a beautiful view of the city and surrounding islands, and did a quick run by the marina. Auckland is a growing city with tons of dormant volcanoes and immigrants apparently arriving in the tens of thousands each year (there are tons of Indian and Asian folks in the city!). It's not cheap either! Food was ridiculously expensive everywhere but we sucked it up and ate two meals (can't starve, after all). People were so helpful and friendly everywhere, and especially when we came back to the hotel to check in and the hotel manager gave us an upgrade to our room (thanks, Neha)! Yay for nice people! We made two friends in the span of almost a day!
Then, an old coworker and friend met us up to show us a bit of the outskirts (a beautiful view of the city from a pier), and took us around town for a bit. We saw a dormant volcano, and went up to the crater! We were both exhausted and falling asleep on the drive though, so we managed to get a drink in before having to call it a night. Thanks, Dan!
Meeting great new people, seeing a new city, and meeting up with old friends - all in all, a successful first day!
Some fun facts:
New Zealand has a larger population of sheep than people!
Before humans, NZ had no predators so the indigenous birds have no wings (they never needed to fly away from anything)!
Apparently, there are no apartment buildings in Auckland!
Cops don't carry guns (yay!)
New Zealand is made up of two main islands: North Island and South Island
Let's start with the traditional Maori story of how New Zealand came about (the abridged version):
Maui, the youngest of many brothers, stowed away on his brothers' boat when they went fishing. They were annoyed (what brother wouldn't be) but let him stay. While fishing, they wouldn't share their bait with him, so he used his own blood and sent out his hook, which was made of his grandmother's jaw bone. Using the South Island as his canoe, he caught a fish of enormous proportions and brought it up to the surface. The fish was so big, and Maui's brothers were hungry, so they began chomping off pieces of the fish. When the sun rose, the fish's flesh hardened, and it became the North Island, and the places where his brothers had bit off pieces of the fish became the North Island's unique coastline.
So, the flight was long, but surprisingly bearable. We made a friend on the flight, and had great conversation (when we weren't sleeping or watching movies). The flight went by fairly quickly and we arrived in Auckland airport around 6am (May 27th). We made it through immigration/customs (phew!), and declared everything we had (dried fruit, nuts, everything!) so we'd be sure not to be fined or jailed (they're pretty serious about their ecosystem)! We had a short bus ride downtown (with an Indian bus driver playing Hindi music!) and left the luggage at our hotel to walk the city.
There was light rain here and there, but that didn't stop us for our only day in Auckland! We saw the town, went up the Sky Tower to catch a beautiful view of the city and surrounding islands, and did a quick run by the marina. Auckland is a growing city with tons of dormant volcanoes and immigrants apparently arriving in the tens of thousands each year (there are tons of Indian and Asian folks in the city!). It's not cheap either! Food was ridiculously expensive everywhere but we sucked it up and ate two meals (can't starve, after all). People were so helpful and friendly everywhere, and especially when we came back to the hotel to check in and the hotel manager gave us an upgrade to our room (thanks, Neha)! Yay for nice people! We made two friends in the span of almost a day!
Then, an old coworker and friend met us up to show us a bit of the outskirts (a beautiful view of the city from a pier), and took us around town for a bit. We saw a dormant volcano, and went up to the crater! We were both exhausted and falling asleep on the drive though, so we managed to get a drink in before having to call it a night. Thanks, Dan!
Meeting great new people, seeing a new city, and meeting up with old friends - all in all, a successful first day!
View from the Sky Tower
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