Hi guys! Well, I made
it across the Pacific. On the way over,
I had an interesting conversation with a nice lady named Linda about her
experiences with the new full-body scanner at airport security. As she recounted it, the tech running the
scanner (who is in another room to respect passenger privacy) had to radio for
visual confirmation that Linda was in fact a woman, and not a man with two
*cough* bags of explosives strapped to his chest. Poor Linda…
Anyways, the rest of the flight was uneventful, and we
arrived in a heavily overcast Auckland.
Two hours later when I emerged from customs, the sky had cleared completely. Auckland feels like what would happen if you
uprooted all of Seattle and relocated it to south Florida. The vegetation and climate are definitely
sub-tropical, but everything else reminds me of the Emerald City. The populations are roughly the same
size. A crunchy/hippie vibe rules parts
of the city. There are large populations
of Asians and Pacific Islanders here (side note: I bet that’s the first time
you’ve seen the term “Pacific Islander” used outside of a government form or a
standardized test). Heck, they even have
a rip-off of the Space Needle!
My first stop after checking into a relatively clean and B.O.-free
hostel was the fake Space Needle, or the Sky Tower, if you must. One thing this version has on the original is
the all-glass flooring of the observation deck.
This made for some interesting and nerve-wracking photo
opportunities. The rest of the afternoon
I spent strolling along the waterfront, trying to locate a decent grocery
store, and practicing walking on the left side of the sidewalk. This last thing hasn’t worked out so well,
since there is roughly a 50/50 mix of right-side-driving tourists and
silly-side-driving locals in the city center.
Eventually I just gave up and started plowing through the middle of
oncoming crowds. The end result was
about the same.
Unfortunately I overlooked a minor technical detail and
forgot to bring a card reader that’s compatible with my camera’s flash
memory. Until I find a competent
electronics store, you’ll have to take my word that I actually went to these
places and am not just holed up at home in the middle of a Lord of the Rings
Extended Edition marathon viewing.
The plan for tomorrow is to take a ferry out to one of the
surrounding islands, a dormant (not extinct!) volcano called Rangitoto. If time allows, there’s also a nearby beach
known for its great surfing and resident gannet (a seagull-ish bird)
colony. To be honest, I’m mostly just
counting down the time until I can pick up my campervan and hit the road! Auckland is nice and all, but I didn’t come
here just to explore a midsized metropolis…
More to come soon, and hopefully with visual aids!
