Springtime in Auckland

Spring is in the air here in New Zealand and the weather has been lovely. We've made our way around the highlights of Auckland and are anxious to get to the countryside. But first a few words about the plane ride over here. I knew we were in for a 12 hour flight, but I don't think anyone can comprehend what that means until you do it. 12 hours on a plane sucks unless you can afford first class. I thought it might be tolerable when we sat down to our own personal video screens with movies on demand, and the anticipation of two meals, and free NZ wine. I thought I might be able to ignore the fact that despite the reassurances from the ticketing agent that our seats were plenty "spacious" we in fact felt like your typical sardines. I was still in good spirits after the first meal and first movie, but then I got crabby. Especially looking at my watch and seeing 8 hours to go and looking around me and seeing everyone else sleeping, and then my back started hurting...yadda, yadda, yadda. I'm not getting any sympathy here am I? Did I mention that during the "welcome aboard New Zealand Air" video, they showed the amenities those in first class were about to enjoy which included a fold out bed for crying out loud! Now there's a sales tactic - show us the amenitities while we're suffering! We made it. I think we each slept for about 15 minutes. We left LAX at 11:30 PM and arrived in NZ at 9:00 AM two days later.

We made it through customs after getting our shoes and tent confiscated momentarily for a washing. We made our way easily to the apartment of friends of our neighbors in Lebanon who graciously gave us access to their place and car while they are vacationing in the States, and took a much needed nap. Their place sits in the heart of downtown Auckland, so we spent the rest of the day walking around the city, and turned in early for bed. After 11 hours of sleep(!) we made breakfast, then took a 10 minute ferry over to the quaint little town of Devenport. The weather was fabulous today, and the tranquility of Devenport is hard to describe. Victorian syle homes, quiet & pristine streets, and lush parks on every block it seems. The flowers over there were amazing! Scents and colors like you wouldn't believe. We climbed the two mountains in the city (OK, they were each only about 200 ft), which were old bunkers/forts, some of which you could still walk into. The hills provided great panoramic views of the city and surrounding bays. Here's one of the views from the top and a look at residential Devenport:



Here's Keith displaying for you Auckland and its trademark sky tower which we probably won't go up due to the expense. He is standing right by the ferry docks:


We leisurely explored the town, found a second hand store where we each bought more comfortable (and less stinky) shirts. Here's a very pretty beach we walked on. The water was chilly (we only waded), but can see how it becomes a hoppin swimming beach during the summer.


We will leave Auckland tomorrow as we are more interested in the outlying areas vs. the rush of the city. We're headed via car (the one we're borrowing - yikes driving on the left side will be weird - we'll be careful Mike!) to a small coastal town called Kerikeri near to the Bay of Islands where we again have a place to stay thanks to our neighbors. Marge & Harry - you are the best! We'll be staying with their good friends while we're up in that area and hope to do some kayaking in the bays.

One of the most interesting things we've seen so far? On some of the busiest intersections downtown, all crosswalks go at the same time. This means momentarily no cars are driving and only people are walking and that you can walk diagonally thru the intersection! We are easily amused it seems because we continue to chuckle at the momentary chaos that takes over the street as people are literally running in all directions!

I think we're going to like this life just fine. I do miss everyone at home, and didn't really realize how hard it would be to leave Gracie behind (pathetic, isn't it?). We saw a lovely golden retriever today which made me a bit sad but put a smile on my face nonetheless.
This internet cafe we found is great - high speed, and only $2/hour. If this is the standard for NZ, you can expect lots of posts and pictures, as it is a nice break in our day to come in here and rest our feet.
More to come!