Loving Auckland - 18-20 December 2007

(Written by my wife, Hayley)
Bobby and I have had a very enjoyable time here in Auckland since we arrived here yesterday. Getting here, however, was a bit crazy. Once we got to LA we had to go outside and take a very hot shuttle bus to the international terminal – this meant we had to leave the secured area and go through security again! This made no logical sense to us, but it was the only way to get there. (It immediately made me think of the Maine saying, ‘You can’t get there from here!’). Then, after some bad restaurant service, we boarded our Air New Zealand 777 plane. It was a great flight overall, except for Bobby getting a little sick to his stomach at one point. Finally we landed at 7:30am local time and went through customs – where Bobby got his first passport stamp – and then went on to pickup our rental car. Our first honeymoon adventure involved Bobby driving on the right side of the car and the left side of the road, defying all natural instincts. He did an excellent job, while I freaked out in what would normally be the drivers’ seat. We made it to the hotel with no problem, other than having to circle around to find parking. We parked, went inside to check in at the front desk, and didn’t make it any farther before the valet came inside and said a truck had driven by and hit our drivers’ side mirror. Poor Bobby then had to spend the next couple hours talking to Thrify and filling out paperwork so that they could bring us a new car.
Once they made the exchange and we ate some lunch, the vacation greatly improved. We walked down the street to the 328m tall Sky Tower and rode the elevator to the top where we got a beautiful 360 degree view of the whole city. We could pick out some landmarks and really get our bearings up there. (It’s a little taller than the Eiffel Tower, to give you some perspective.) We also got to watch as some daredevils did freefall jumps from the top (not bungy jumps, but they were controlled). Some people even walked around the rim of the observation deck (again, they were safely tied together). After getting lots of pictures, we walked down to the Viaduct Basin to wait to begin our dinner cruise. This is a beautiful waterfront area with some boats and restaurants and lots of Kiwi’s just enjoying life. We watched the ships, checked out some stores, and just took in our surroundings. Before we knew it we were boarding the ‘Defiance’ with our captain, Steve, his first mate, Mac, and the other passengers. We sailed to a small marina – with 2500 boats – and dropped anchor to dine on a delicious meal. We ate some freshwater salmon that was to die for, some mussels, potatoes, salad, a beautiful fresh fruit plate, and then a gourmet dark chocolate truffle from Devonport, a nearby town. After that, we just casually sailed around the bay. I even got to take a turn at the helm for a couple minutes! After we got back to shore and walked back to the hotel, Bobby put our photos on the laptop while I zonked out on the couch almost instantly – the time change is tough to get accustomed to.
This morning we met up with Graeme, a friend and fellow storm chaser we met a couple years ago on SLT. He took us out for a wonderful day of exploring Auckland, giving us a personalized tour of some local spots that guidebooks just couldn’t have shown us as well. Bobby or I will go into lots more details later, but for now it’s 11:30pm here and time to go to sleep and rest up for an early day tomorrow.
Fast Facts:
1. I can’t answer the age old question of the toilets – the water just flushes straight downward, it doesn’t spiral one way or the other. We do press a button to flush, though, we don’t press a handle.
2. The trunk of a car is called a ‘boot’ here. Graeme’s wife thought it was funny for us to call it a trunk.
3. There are lots of food options available here – including Starbucks and Burger King!
4. Borders Rewards cards from America don’t work here.
5. Coca-Cola is made with real sugar instead of corn syrup – yum!
6. Yesterday we were traveling on the ‘motorway’ (not ‘highway’) going 100 in 19 degree weather…that is, going 100 kilometers per hour in 19 degree Celsius weather.
Love you all, Hayley and Bobby
P.S. Andria – when you get a chance, could you please call my parents and remind them to keep up with the journal entries we post on here? They won’t get online without some proding!