Rendezvous Auckland

Mardi 6, Le voyage entre Sydney et Auckland est très rapide, bien qu'a l'arrivée je perde encore 2 heures de décalage horaire, je me retrouve a 10 heures de différence avec Paris. C'est le dernier pays le plus a l'Est, si je continue un peu, je retombe a hier. Cette fois ci, je passe un temps fou a la douane Néo Zélandaise, ils te posent des questions a dormir debout, comme si j'allais entrer dans le pays avec un Camembert et du Beaujolais. Je savais que j'étais attendu par Anthony Hopkins (n...

So, we arrived at LAX at 6pm, and didn't wait in line for too long to get checked in. Between the 4 of us, we only had 3 bags, so that was easy. Then, onto the food court where we had dinner at The Daily Grill and then headed into the security checkpoint. After all the fumbling with bags and taking off shoes and jackets, we made it to GATE 120. We bought every gossip magazine they had and sat down to wait, luckily it was only 10 minutes or so. Amy looked at her boarding pass and realized that...

So, yesterday I woke up at 4am local time - which was technically 8 hours of sleep since I went to bed at 8pm the night before. Amy woke up then too, we chatted and then somehow she was able to sleep for another 4 hours. She's amazing, that Amy. I, on the other hand, played SIMS and read and got dressed. Mom and Rissa and I went downstairs for breakfast at the buffet here around 6:30. This hotel has lots of businessmen and pilots/flight attendants. It's very much like Embassy Suites. Amy love...

5:15
AM - We arrive in Auckland after a restless 12-hr flight. We got to
talk to Wesley sitting next to us, who was born Canadian and now
immigrated to Australia, and joined the army- so some of our
conversations got awkward when he would elude to being a republican and
voting for McCain if he was American just because he didn't like
Obama's middle name- besides that he was actually a nice guy to talk to
but he swore a LOT and the biggest coincidence was that he w...

6:00 AM - We get
our rental car, and the rep was so sincere and helpful- which sadly
we've had to get used to with everyone we've encountered since- I guess
Kiwis and Aussies are actually best known for how nice they are, an
actual tourist attraction besides the scenery.


6:30
AM - It's pouring buckets, and still dark outside, so we were panicking
when we actually stepped foot into our Toyota Camry, and everything was
on the opposite side! Lu said he'd done this...

Mon Aug 25th
6:00 AM - Like
clockwork, I wake up 8 hours after going to sleep, perfectly rested-
and start re-organizing our luggage. Then, while lu wrote a paper for
his online class, I hit the pool for a few laps, spent 20 min in the
gym (which doesn't mean I did anything useful), and figured out how to
turn on and use the Swedish sauna for 15min all by myself (with faint
experience from Stockholm, minus the naked Holland man).


9:30
AM - We got continental...

Addendum. In final Sydney News... After Melbourne most ex members of the edge (Chris, Renee, Mike, JK, me) and other pals rented a beach house in Woy Woy (what a funny name everyone!, anyone?). It rained for 3 days straight (apart from 15 mins) so we stayed in and stared out the window (fig.1).  During a midnight beach walk during the 15 minute rain break, me and JK got very scared of shapes leaping through the stream to the sea. Huge splashes and dark arches careering into the water. I genui...

We leave San Francisco International at 10pm on Friday, March 21st. We fly all day Saturday, cross the international date line and lose a whole day. We land Easter Sunday in Sydney Australia for a 3 hour layover, then on to Auckland.

After searching online for things to do, We have decided that the Sky Tower in Auckland is something we must do. That looks like an adrenaline rush like no other. It's a long way down, and a short time to get there! WhoooHooooo!

We arrived! 22 hours and then some. But we are rested and walking around Auckland. We found an excellent resturant, Tony's "Lord Nelson's" Steakhouse where we ate the best seafood.