the land of sheep and wine

i am finally here!

after a long night on the plane, sitting next to two smelly german men who insisted on frequent stretch breaks ala hanz and franz, i touched down in the city of auckland NZ yesterday morning at 5am. My first experience of new zealand = balling in the airport after being treated like a complete moron by the customs officer. i was tired, dammit! it quickly picked up from there... i hopped on the Airbus, which for $15 took me from the airport and around the city to the Auckland International YHA. The YHA here is an nice little place, a lot more lowkey than the nearby ABC (auckland central backpackers) and the fat camel hostel, etc. those two have a bar and are full of young ultra-chic cool kids, whereas the YHA is quiet and inhabited by mostly middle-aged couples and the occasional granny. so naturally, i feel right at home. i slept and read mostly yesterday, leaving the hostel to get my first NZ meal (shaved lamb over rice with french fries and garlic yoghurt...ha), set up my cellphone, and explore a little bit. then i went to the travel desk and signed up for a stray bus tour-- i'm doing the "short moe" tour, which goes from auckland, around the south island, and ends up in christchurch. you can check it out here:

http://www.straytravel.com/kev.php

fairly inexpensive, and i'll try and extend it for as long as possible, since my only deadline is to be in christchurch on the 8th of January to welcome mr. joel colony to the sunny land of kiwis.

today i woke up around 7:30am (don't be shocked, thats like 1:30pm back home, so it's about par) and hooked onto a day tour with kiwi experience bus tours. it was pretty awesome, the bus driver was hysterical. there were about 14 people on the bus, including 2 girls from germany, boys from england, the US, iran, and germany, and a couple from japan. we all got along really well and had a nice day exploring the area. we went to the bridge (eff, i don't remember the names of any of these places) where a few people bunjeed- i didn't for lack of money and adequate footwear... and then we went to an area outside the city that had a few beaches, parks, and a fort overlooking the harbor. we all ate fish and chips and walked around a bit, it was nice to chat with everyone after feeling a little bit like a loner the day before. (ps i swear i will get better about remembering the names of places i visit...)

after that, i set up my phone and came back to the hostel, where i am at the moment. tonight i'm going to meet up with some of the people from the bus at the ABC bar, but mostly tonight is going to be about packing and getting ready to head out tomorrow morning. it definitly feels like a bit of a whirlwind.

so, some final first impressions of new zealand:

"ah, summer in new zealand, makes you just want to break into applause" - words from our bus driver today, so very true. amazingly blue waters, rich greens everywhere, and so warm and sunny today. absolutely lovely.

also, the first thing i noticed about NZ after getting off the plane-- the trees. not a single ordinary tree in this country. each and every one is spectacular somehow, with beautiful leaves, gnarly trunks, everything, i can't even describe it... ah, i'm loving it.

ok, this is enough for now. i will update once i hit my next destination! oh and eventually i will figure out how to do cool things like put pictures up. if sylvan can do it from niger, then i should be able to figure it out, right?

love to all,
alli