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A very kind Kiwi!
Entry 47 of 88 | show all | print this entry |
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We made it! After 5 hours in the airport and 13.5 hours in the plane, we arrived safe and sound to Auckland, New Zealand. NZ is considered to be part of the continent of Australia/Oceania, which includes Australia, NZ, Papua New Guinea, as well as the islands of the South Pacific Ocean and Micronesia (a scattered group of islands that run along the northern and southern edges of the Equator).
It was quite a shock to arrive in the airport and order breakfast at McDonald's...in English! This was the first time for us in 5 months of travel! It was music to James' ears as he was finally able to start engaging in conversations without having to rely on me for translation. He has definitely improved in his Spanish comprehension during our travels but could not communicate and engage with others as he would have liked. In our first day or so I made a few mistakes, saying "hola" instead of hello and starting to ask questions in Spanish as it just felt so strange to be speaking in English again.
We spent a couple days in Auckland doing research and trying to figure out how we were going to spend the next month of travel in New Zealand. We changed our plane ticket to lengthen our time here as we knew there was so much we wanted to do. There are lots of options for transportation for travelers...buying a car or campervan, renting a car or campervan, hopping on/off buses designed just for backpackers, taking tour buses, trains, planes, bikes, motorcycles...so many choices! In planning our trip, we thought we might buy a car and then try to sell it before we left, but in the end, we decided that this wasn't the best option for us so we chose to rent a car. We found a super deal on a little Toyota Corolla that we have affectionately named 'Tortas'. Tortas was a friendly cat we met back in Argentina and we loved its name (tortas means cakes in Spanish).
It felt like a huge accomplishment just to make the decision about our transportation and we were excited to have more freedom to roam on our own. It is summertime here in New Zealand and one of the most popular times of the year for travel and holiday here which means that prices for everything are much higher then the winter season and everyone is traveling!!!
We also toured around Auckland a bit and found it to be a really pleasant city, especially considering it is New Zealand's largest city. In small ways it also reminded us of the U.S. due to the presence of Starbucks on almost every corner and other restaurant chains such as Subway, Dunkin Donuts, Gloria Jean coffee shops, and Blockbuster movie rental stores. The streets in the downtown area were really clean and well-cared for and the huge Sky Tower in the middle of the city (of course you can jump off it...after all, it's New Zealand!) was a nice site. Auckland is nicknamed the "City of Sails" due to its waterside location. It is located on a narrow isthmus between two harbors but it also has rainforest covering the surrounding hills and dormant volcanic cones dotting the landscape. Nearby there are also small islands that make for nice getaways for the locals and tourists.
I convinced James that it would be fun to do a bit of shopping (some of our clothes are getting a bit worn and I am starting to get really tired of wearing the same clothes all the time) so we caught a free shuttle down to the outlet stores. Being the shopper I am, I managed to find a few good deals but James was shocked at how expensive the T-shirts were...nothing decent under $25! We decided to take a public bus home from the mall so that we could stop off at a place called One Tree Hill for a panoramic view of the city. As we were pondering which direction to walk to find the correct bus stop, James just happened to ask a random fellow (his name is Owen) for his opinion as to which direction we should walk. Owen was heading to the electronic store but told us that if we wanted to wait a few minutes he would drive us up to One Tree Hill since it was near his house. He seemed really nice so we opted to take the free lift. We ended up spending the next 4 hours or so with him and had a really great afternoon! He took us to the viewpoint, sharing with us about Auckland and its landscape, and then we went to his house to have tea and Christmas pies (tasty mince pies) with him and his wife, Lui. They have 2 kids in their 20's so they were really comfortable with us...making us feel like family! During our conversation, we found out that Owen is a middle school principal (he and even offered James a teaching job!) Because his school district is not under the authority of a superintendent like our districts are, Owen has a lot more authority and responsibility at his school for making things happen. He is doing really neat projects at his school to broaden the scope of education to include outdoor activities like camping trips, sailing and other sports, computers, and the creative arts. We actually got to see his school, wandering around it while he looked for camping gear to loan us during our travels in New Zealand. That was another blessing in meeting Owen-he loaned us a great tent, a cooker stove, and some cooking pots! We knew that camping would be a fun part of our NZ travel but we didn't bring any gear with us in our backpacks so it worked out really well to borrow these items from him. Owen drove us around to purchase a few more items we would need (air mattress, cheap comforter) and then dropped us at our hostel. What a day and great timing in meeting our friend Owen! This felt like a good start to our New Zealand travels.
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