Our Adventure Begins!

G’ day to all our family and mates back in the U.S.! I know, I know…where have Kev & Amy been? It’s been closing in on a week since we left Seattle, and we have yet to write our first post-departure entry. Well, it’s been a whirlwind of a few days since we left, and we have much to share. We just completed the first leg (Auckland, New Zealand) of what will be our 5 month adventure overseas. But let me catch you up quickly on how we got here, because certainly the journey here has been at least as exciting as the destination itself. (Hopefully that will be the mantra of our entire adventure).

We left Seattle on Sunday evening, 1/11/09, for a short flight to Oakland to spend the night. Our flight to New Zealand wasn’t until Monday evening, so we had most of the next day to explore San Fran before starting our overseas journey. Since I practically lived in San Francisco while consulting for Deloitte several years ago, we decided that I would be the travel guide for our stay in San Fran. That immediately ran us into trouble. We took the BART subway from the Oakland airport to downtown San Francisco, where our hotel was. I got us on the wrong train, going the wrong direction. Luckily, this mistake didn’t cost us too much time, as we figured out the correct train quickly, and eventually ended up downtown. (I have never been known for my innate sense of direction; in fact, I do think I have the innate ability to sense the wrong direction and always feel certain it is the right one. A dangerous combination!)

Monday morning, we decided to make one stop before heading to the airport – Fisherman’s Wharf. It was a beautiful day in SF, sunny and about 70 degrees. We were in heaven! We had left Seattle just a day prior to the most extreme winter weather we had ever seen and were now sporting our sunglasses, tee-shirts, and wishing we had on our shorts. It was perfect. We finally found the street-side seafood vendors and ordered us some lunch—a crab and shrimp cocktail and calamari. However, as we were crossing the street to find some benches—leaving the safety of the covered sidewalk where the vendors resided—I was immediately attacked by seagulls who were at least as interested in the tasty lunch as I was. Luckily, as Kev praised me for, I managed to hold onto the food and fight off the seagulls as we quickly beelined backed to the covered sidewalk next to the vendors. I definitely think I saw at least a few snickers and muttered “tourists” under their breath. (Wow…we’re already being pegged for our naivety and we haven’t even left US soil yet!)

After lunch we headed back to the airport to get ready for our 13 hour flight to Auckland. And boy was this an incredible flight because we flew Air New Zealand in FIRST CLASS! My sister and brother-in-law generously used their airline miles to purchase us first class tickets. As we boarded the 777 and entered the first class area, it felt like we were boarding a ship from Star Wars, or a space shuttle headed to the moon. We were not assigned seats in this section of the plane – we were assigned our “Pod”. The pods were decked out – individual entertainment units with movies, television, music, video games, etc. We were giving slippers, our own sleeping blanket, headphones, toothbrush & paste, sleeping eye masks, etc. On my seat was a menu of the 20 different wine selections as well as a full bar. I turned to Kevin and told him I’d see him in 13 hours….I was retreating to my pod. The beauty of this class, is that our seats turned into beds at night – completely flat. Since it was a red-eye flight, this was perfect. We slept for 6 – 7 uninterrupted hours, before being awaken for our selection of breakfasts. By time our plane landed in Auckland, I felt as if I could have stayed on the plane for a few more hours… it might just be one of my favorite places that we visit on this adventure! So here’s to Jen & Rob – we can’t thank you enough!!!

We arrived in Auckland yesterday morning (Wednesday, 1/14/09 – or Tuesday Seattle time). Since we got in so early, we were knocking on our hotel’s door (Auckland City Hotel) at 6:30am. Our room wasn’t ready, so we were told to come back mid-day to check-in. Kev tried to get more specificity on when in the afternoon our room would be ready – again, he was told mid-day. So again Kev asked – what time approximately? Apparently frustrated, the receptionist said, more slowly this time, “mid-day”. We eventually learned that mid-day in New Zealand is a specific time – 12:00pm noon. That would be just one of the new terms/slang we learn from Kiwis.

We started our early morning with a 3-mile walking tour of the city (we followed the instructions from our guidebook). The city is beautiful – completely surrounded by water. And quite large. Even after this tour we still had some time to kill so we found a park and cobbasquatted (no – that’s not a Kiwi term, as anyone who is familiar with Pretty Woman will know). By time we snoozed in the park and then returned to our hotel, our room was ready.

Later that evening, we did a tour of the Sky Tower. The Sky Tower is the tallest structure in the Southern Hemisphere---and looks almost exactly like Seattle’s Space Needle, though it was built recently – in 1996. (I swear they copied us). The view from the top is astonishing; both Kevin and I were shocked at how much water surrounded Auckland. And, in typical Kiwi fashion, they are able to turn a generally mundane activity into an extreme sport. In addition to the viewing towers, there are also “extreme” options to walk around the edge of the structure at absurd heights or bungee jump from the ledge. Kevin and I arrived too late to partake in any of these activities---but we’ll have plenty of thrill-seeking opportunities later on. (I was plenty scared by the glass-bottom panes on the viewing deck. Considering my fear, bungee jumping in New Zealand —to Kevin’s dismay—might not be in my future!)

Thursday morning, we caught a ferry out to Rangitoto Island – a small island 25 minutes via ferry from Auckland. This island is not inhabited by people, and it was created 600 years ago by a volcano eruption. (The island looks like something out of the TV show, Lost.) It was a rigorous hike to get to the top (difficult terrain and steep—and compounded by the hot weather) but well worth it.

Tomorrow we head to the town of Rotorua for the next two nights, home to natural hot springs, “blackwater” cave rafting, and a Class 5 whitewater rafting trip that Kev convinced me to do (we will be rafting down a waterfall – about a 25 foot drop!!). I’m definitely having 2nd thoughts about the whitewater rafting trip – the brochure says it’s the highest commercially rafted waterfall in the world. We’ll keep you posted on what we think of Rotorua (and whether I actually go through with this rafting trip).

Cheers!