We're in New Zealand!

We arrived in New Zealand early yesterday morning (Thursday NZ time), after time traveling completely over Wednesday. The long flight over was divine! We had an exit row all to ourselves with plenty of room to sprawl out and sleep, personal tvs with lots of movies, tv shows, music and games, and wonderful comforts throughout the flight. We ate salmon, peas, and potatoes for dinner, with a brownie and red wine. And right before bed we were served Cadbury hot chocolate and provided with socks, eyemasks, and toothbrushes. It had been a long day of travel and I was ready to sleep. I slept for 8 hours of the flight, and awoke to a hot spinach and mushroom frittata breakfast! Yum! We arrived in Auckland at 4 in the morning, went through immigration and customs, and took a brisk walk to another airport to depart for Wellington. I could barely contain myself; I was giddy with excitement! A short plane ride later and we were here!

We spent the first few hours settling in, finding transportation and a place to stay (we had SO MUCH luggage), and getting unpacked. The weather in Wellington is COLD and RAINY which makes me really thankful that I packed a heavier coat at the last minute. After getting the hostel all arranged and settled, we ventured out into the cold and wet day for a much needed lunch. Our first stop was Mac's Brewery. We couldn't think of a better way to celebrate our arrival than with some freshly brewed New Zealand beer. We treated ourselves to a sampler, and fish and chips (pronounced 'fush and chups') in NZ. I am still getting used to the money conversion, the metric system, and the toilets flushing in the opposite direction...just kidding. But there are considerable differences between cultures right away. Of course, the people here drive on the left side of the road, but the people also walk on the left side. I kept thinking I was getting bumped off the sidewalk, when in fact, I was just used to the American way! There are a lot of runners in Wellington, and I've already seen a few rugby players. The accent isn't too hard to understand; I rather enjoy it.

We stopped at a museum on the waterfront yesterday called Te Papa. It is a historical museum that explains about New Zealand, its animals, and its traditional Maori culture. They had a whole section that looked like a zoo, with models of the animals. You could press buttons to hear children explain each of the animals. Their accents are adorable! My favorite was, "Dolphins are mam-mals, that live under-neath the wa-ter..." Their accent sounds like a cross between Australian and British, and they tend to slur their vowels together. I think that with practice, I could successfully speak New Zealand! ;)

NZ word of the day:

Sweet or sweet-as: cool, great, thanks...

I miss home and long for the last few days of summer there, that I've been told are quite warm! I miss yoga too!  Maybe I'll try Hot Yoga for 'cool kiwis'...