New Zealand at last!

9 hours on a flight can be a damn long time – especially when someone (we’ll call him “Andy”) tells you that you’re going to get your own personal video thing to watch your choice of movies, and that doesn’t happen.  Thanks.  Apparently the plane we were on is on the list to be retrofitted with the personal video things, so the entire flight we had an advertisement on the back of the seat in front of us saying “Watch whatever you want – personal video player coming soon!”  It would have been nice if they took those off so it wasn’t mocking us for 9 hours straight.

We arrived in Auckland, got thru customs, and then took an express airport bus shuttle downtown.  It dropped us off in front of where we were supposed to stay (a cheap hostel), so we then had to walk .5 km to our hotel.  Turns about three blocks of that were straight uphill, and I was pulling two suitcases.  My hands hurt pretty bad from pulling the 100+ lbs of weight, and when we got to the hotel I couldn’t really sign my name on the bill.

We relaxed, checked the internet, made a few calls telling people we were alive, and then set out to get some dinner.  We walked about two blocks away and found a nice little place that had falafel and kebabs and burgers, and each had a rice dinner plate with salad / yoghurt, and beef / falafel.  It was delicious.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel, turned on the TV and fell asleep.  I was out by 8:30, I have no clue how late Amy was up.

Let me tell ya – it is beautiful here!  The flight in was gorgeous, and I can’t wait to start exploring.  It’s a bit chilly here at night.  Amy and I both had to wear our jackets on our walk to dinner – I guess we were spoiled by the nice Hawaiian heat.

Today we don’t have anything planned yet.  I want to check out downtown a bit, and try and get a cell phone and some other stuff taken care of.  We’ve only got a few days in Auckland and a lot to do.

So far so good – our New Zealand adventure has only hit the tip of the iceberg though.  I’ll try and update the blog more often now that we’re here, I know I haven’t been doing the best jobs thus far.  Hope all is well around the world!