Auckland, New Zealand
Tuesday 2004-03-23
The flight from Los Angeles was wonderful. I left LA a little after midnight Friday night (Saturday morning) and arrived in Auckland at about 8:30 am on Sunday. The flight took about 12 1/2 hours. Security at LAX was unbelievable, but everything moved pretty quickly. I flew on Quantas Airlines and they were fantastic. The crew, the service and the inflight movies were all wonderful. And best of all - the other two seats in my section were empty, so I was able to stretch out and get some sleep!

I have rented a car, so immediately after arriving I went to pick it up. I've never driven on the 'other size of the road' as they do here in NZ, so it was a bit of a shock when I drove down that first street. Fortunately there wasn't much traffic, so I didn't kill or injure anyone. Now after a couple of days driving around I feel completely comfortable with the car and the roads.

I had a reservation for 2 nights at a Bed and Breakfast in Auckland. I arrived to be greeted by my hosts Mike and Landy. They're a wonderful couple and made me feel right at home. I dropped off my things, took a nice hot shower and jumped in the car to drive into Auckland. I stayed in Auckland until the late afternoon. Since I was still a bit unsure of my driving and where everything is, I wanted to return home before it got dark. Once I got back to the B&B I was introduced to one of the other guests - Karen, a woman from Scotland. Then Mike showed me the Marina that is about a mile down the street from the B&B. Upon returning to the B&B, I met the other guests - Andrew and his wife Denise. They're from California. We all spent several hours that evening chatting and getting to know each other.

The next day (Monday) after breakfast, Mike took me on a tour of the neighborhood. The B&B is in Half Moon Bay, which is a suburb of Auckland. It's on a peninsula with lots of wonderful views of the bay, small islands and the city of Auckland. I really enjoyed the tour and of course immediately wanted to buy one of the houses! After that I drove back into Auckland. I spent several hours walking around the city, visiting a very nice, trendy area that has lots of galleries, cafes & restaurants. I also walked around the campus of the University of Auckland. Oh, and I found the Starbucks coffee shops in Auckland and sampled their lattes! I had Indian food for dinner and then headed back to the B&B. When I got there Mike and Karen were chatting and enjoying some nice Scotch that Karen had picked up. So I joined the fun. A wonderful time was had by all...

Today (Tuesday) I decided to just get in the car and drive north using the main highway #1. I love to drive, so I knew I'd enjoy it. And I did! The population of New Zealand is about 4 million and about 1 million live in Auckland. So there is a lot of open space with very few people. Once I got outside of Auckland on my drive today I was able to appreciate that. The landscape was very green grass on rolling hills with some small wooded areas. Livestock grazing, spectacular views of the ocean and the sky was all I saw for miles at a time. I went through a number a small towns. The main highway #1 that I was on became one lane in each direction after leaving the suburbs of Auckland. I drove about 3 hours north to a large town called Whangarei. Once there, I visited a beautiful waterfall, drove through the city a bit and then turned south and headed back to Auckland. I arrived back at the B&B a little after dark.

Because I'm enjoying the B&B and everyone here so much I decided to extend my stay for a couple of days. So now I am planning to leave Auckland on Thursday morning. I'll drive straight from Auckland to Wellington, which is a 9-10 hour drive. Wellington is on the very bottom of the North Island. I'm going to meet my friend Carol in Wellington. She's rented a cottage on the coast a few hours from Wellington and we're going there for the weekend. Early next week, probably on Monday, I'm going to take the ferry from the North Island to the South Island. I'm planning to spend about 10 days on the South Island. I have absolutely no distinct plans for the South Island, other than to drive and see whatever looks interesting. Then I'll take the ferry back to the North Island and spend my remaining time there. I fly out of Auckland on Sunday 11 April.

I'll try to write more in the next couple of days. I have constant internet access here at the B&B. I'm not sure how easy it will be to get time on the internet later in my trip, but I'll try my best.