After a long day (or was it two?) of traveling, I arrived at 5:30am in Auckland.
Some highlights from my time in airports:
*Weirdest sight: A vending machine at the Houston airport that dispensed only Proactiv products.
*How I knew I was flying to Los Angeles: By eavesdropping on the conversation between the two men sitting next to me, a 40-year-old guitarist and a 27-year-old dancer/choreographer.
*Best sensory experience: The several minutes spent outside one terminal in L.A., waiting for a shuttle to another terminal. The temperature was PER-fect - somewhere in the 70s, with a cool breeze blowing. Refreshing, even with the car exhaust.
*Worst sensory experience: Laying eyes upon a naked Natalie Portman, advertising perfume on a giant poster outside the Duty Free shop. Stop haunting me!
The Air New Zealand flight from L.A. to Auckland was somewhere between 12-13 hours -- and it wasn't so bad! The plane was huge, with more than 60 rows (9 people per row in the economy section). I think because the plane was so large, it was hard for me to feel claustrophobic or anxious about being on a plane for such a long time. There were two young women sitting next to me, so unfortunately I couldn't spread out... but they were polite and they didn't smell.
Every seat had its own built-in TV entertainment system, with hundreds of movies, TV shows, music videos, and albums to keep us amused. I knew it was going to be a wonderful trip when the safety video came on... and Richard Simmons appeared! Watch it for yourself here.
I perused some of the entertainment options but spent most of the flight trying to sleep. I also watched the flight tracker on my screen to see what kind of progress we were making. There aren't many geographical reference points when you're flying over the Pacific Ocean. "Wow, we're flying past Nuku'alofa!" (That's the capital of Tonga, if you're playing along at home.)
Garrett was at the airport to pick me up in his rental car, a "Nissan Sunny." Then, and several times since, I went to get in the car on the wrong side! It was somewhat strange to be driving on the "wrong" side of the road. The signage in most places is absent or incomprehensible, so we did get lost driving into the city. Additionally, most intersections are rotaries, which are even more incomprehensible. But in the end we made it to the Waldorf (yes, owned by the same company!), hotel apartments. It's very close to the harbor, and the neighborhood reminds me somewhat of downtown Seattle.
We went back to sleep for a few hours, had breakfast (or "elevensies," the good Hobbits we are), and then went out exploring. Garrett drove us an hour west, to the Waitakere Ranges Regional Park. He had been there the previous day with his group of American students and wanted to share it with me. Once we exited the suburbs and passed my first sheep-seen-from-the-road, we entered the Waitakere. The roads were narrow, winding, and generally ridiculous. I'm surprised my stomach survived it! The area is heavily forested and resembled a jungle; I imagine it's similar to Hawaii. There were crazy signs, such as frequent squiggly arrows to indicate the hairpin curves and, my favorite, a large exclamation point. This indicated that there were hidden driveways along the route. Even though it's technically a park, many people make their homes there.
We descended the road and arrived at Piha Beach, at the Tasman Sea. The scenery was, to say the least, jaw-dropping. Unfortunately, Garrett has not charged my camera's battery since arriving a month ago in New Zealand... so I took only a handful of photos before the battery went dead. :) It was a good excuse to stay focused in the present moment! We climbed to the almost-top of Lion Rock, a giant mass of a rock that resembles a reclining lion from the south when the sun begins to set. (There's a good picture here.) We watched surfers wrestle with the enormous waves crashing on shore, and we watched small children and dogs run wild on the sands. We rock-hopped over boulders covered with hundreds of glistening black clams to explore more remote coves. Garrett pointed out a sleeping seal hidden in the rocks. At "The Gap," we watched enormous waves gather in the ocean and then crash and spill between two rock faces. The water was an incredible shade of blue-green in most places.
I was sad to leave, but we had to return the rental car. It cost 52 New Zealand dollars (about $43 U.S.) to fill the gas tank. Yikes!
Garrett showed me around his neighborhood, City Center. It seems to be a mix of tall office buildings, upscale retail shops, karaoke bars, coffee shops, Internet cafes, and stores selling outdoor gear. I will do some more exploring on my own this week. We finished the evening with an amazingly delicious Indian dinner at the restaurant next door to Garrett's building. Phew!
Photos to come soon!
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