Kia Ora!
So on Friday morning, i woke up at 4 am, and got ready for my taxi to arrive at 5 am. taxi man promptly arrived and whisked me away to Sydney kingsford smith. while checking in for my flight, the woman at the counter asked for the flight confirmation of my onward departure from new zealand. i hadnt printed it out yet, because i thought, gee, its in april, why print it out now...but the woman wouldnt give me my boarding pass until she could enter in my flight details for the onward flight. luckily, i booked it with qantas, and so i only had to go to the qantas desk to get them to print one out for me. thank god i arrived at the airport with time to spare!
i got my boarding pass, and headed to my gate. i got on the plane, and could barely contain my excitement! in just a few hours, i would be in new zealand with paul!
customs was a breeze, and i got my work permit, no problem. i got my bags and waited for paul! i saw him only after a few minutes, as our flights landed within 15 minutes of each other. we got through border security, got on a bus, and headed to our hostel, the fat camel. they served a free (teeny tiny) meal each night, and we were able to have our own room, not a shared dorm with 10 other people ,so that was nice. it was great to see him and be able to trade our stories of our trips and adventures.
right now we are in a different hostel, in a better location, ( even thoguh auckland is a tiny city, and we are anxious to get a car and leave...we are sure that there is more to see than a city that reminds both of us of dublin...)we are staying at ACB backpackers on queen street in midtown auckland. its a huge place, more like a hotel, but our room has NO WINDOWS so its really hot in there and hard to wake up in the morning because its always pitch black with the lights off! today was a bank holiday here, so i have to wait till tomorrow to sort out my tax number and getting a car, and all that jazz. we've gone food shopping and are living very cheaply off bread, butter, beans and some tea. i expect we will lose some pounds before we get out of here! we are happy to be together and excited to move on out of the city. all the "adrenaline" sports are very expensive, and we are not too pressed to do them yet. we are excited to get jobs and settle somewhere, as we have been constantly unpackng and packing our bags, and its getting tiring. all in all, its been pretty chilly here, with drizzly rain most days, and it will be like that for the rest of the week. so far so good though, and its only been 3 days! more soon!
