First day in New Zealand

Sunday, November 30th

Waking up after 2 hours of sleeping was not so fun. I felt a bit like dying. At 5:10am, we headed to reception for our shuttle. The receptionist walked towards us asking if we booked the shuttle. Yes we did, but when we went outside and it was gone! Gone! We were on time! We asked the receptionist if they normally turn back, and his response was "sometimes." We gave it ten minutes before catching a taxi. Luckily the shuttle turned around, and we got our prepaid ride to the airport.

We each had AUD20 left from our room deposit, so we headed to the duty free shop to spend away. We bought vegemite, cadbury chocolate, and newspapers...and I bought a pair of koala socks to match my moose socks.

The flight to Auckland was a quick 2 hours, so I didn't get to sleep that much. Qantas planes are actually pretty comfortable with lots of leg room. So much better than Cathay Pacific. When we arrived we were able to check into our next flight to Christchurch 9 hours ahead of time.

We met two of Steph's friends, Alfio and Nilesh, from college in Auckland. We were starving for lunch, but had to sort out our car situation. We decided to cancel our magic bus tickets despite the 35% cancellation fee, and rent a car instead. Road trip it is. As we were looking for an internet place, we ran into Queen street where they had a Christmas parade. They had floats, costumes (including star wars characters). On Queen street we found a McDonalds that had wifi. Nilesh brought a mini computer, so it's handy.

While we were eating our burgers, chicken strips, and fish sandwich, an old Chinese lady tried to exit through the fire escape area. Not sure why. Maybe she thought it was the potty? But the alarm went off, and she swiftly and quietly moved down the stairs. The alarm kept on going. Alfio saved the day by shutting the door. This also meant everyone assumed he did it. The hero doesn't get his recognition. Boo. Alfio also made our car reservation for us.

We decided to use the last few hours in Auckland exploring. We walked towards Albert Park, a charming Victorian formal garden. It was nice. We also walked past the university clock tower, which is Auckland's architectural triumph. It was pretty. And that's the amount of touring we would do for the day. Time for drinks!

We walked to the Waitemata harbour for some drinks. It was a 2 for 1 special. 2 corona for NZD10 ($5). What a steal! $2.50 a drink. Almost as cheap as Asia. Only almost because beers in Asia were super sized.

At around 5:30pm, we thought it was about time to go grab some dinner before heading to the airport around 7ish. Alfio had found a restaurant called Mecca that he really liked, so we went there. Steph, Bernice and I shared a mixed platter and a salad.

The next time we looked at our watches it was a bit past 7pm, which was late. Originally we planned to leave at 7pm with our shuttle. But, we were way late, so we had to take a taxi. Good thing we made it on time. Our flight was an easy 1.5 hours. When we went to collect our bags, our food bag was not there. No more vegemite, cadbury chocolate, cereal...nooooo! The right thing to do was to report it as lost. It felt a bit silly to report a food bag as stolen, but we did. The lady said to call back tomorrow to see if it was delivered by the afternoon. Chances are it probably won't show up.

We were the last at the airport to leave. Steph called for a shuttle that never came. They lied and we were waiting outside in the freezing cold. Why was it so cold? It's summer already. Steph called back again, and the shuttle dude told her not for another hour. Forget that. We will just take two taxis please.

Our taxi driver was really nice. He was giving us tips on taxi rides and how to be safe in Christchurch. When we arrived we tried to tip him, but he didn't want it. We realized it's not in the culture to tip. But we insisted anyways and he took it.

Our hostel was base backpackers right at the cathedral square, in the center of town. We dropped our bags off and quickly went to the hostel bar called Saints and Sinners since we heard it was closing at 12am and that night we were supposed to celebrate Bernice passing the California bar exam. Congrats Bernice!

Saints and Sinners were having $4 drinks. Good deal. After 2 drinks the light went on. Good sign that it was closing. We didn't want to call it a night yet, even though I was so tired from not sleeping at all. Some Aussies told us there was a bar called Micky Finn's Irish pub around the corner that was still serving. Off we went. We didn't really get what around the corner meant. We walked around for a while in the freezing cold. Eventually we found it. On the way there we saw the Aussies and they said the bar was dead. No matter. We just wanted to drink anyways. We had our drinks, played some pool and fooseball, then called it a night. A great start to our New Zealand trip.