Haere mai ki Aotearoa!

Posted by gloriane and eric on Nov 13, 2012 in Uncategorized | 1 comment

(Welcome to New Zealand, in Maori.)

5:30am — our New Zealand journey begins bleary- but bright-eyed in Auckland airport. After a brief but adventurous wrong-side-of-the-road drive through suburban Auckland (did I mention the manual transmission is on the LEFT side, and the windshield wipers are where the turn signal is supposed to be?), we end up at our palace downtown, a 3-minute walk from the waterfront.

Breakfast at the marina leads to a walk around downtown, gawking at sky-jumpers (with unsolicited advice from a local: “that’s dangerous, I don’t recommend it. You’ll lose all the small change in your pockets.”), admiring street art, and crawling through vegetation in Albert Park.

After a quick break, we meet up with Eric’s friend from NYC, Zee. Ramen Tanpopo fills our bellies, but there’s still room for liquid chocolate in the Parnell neighborhood. Gloriane windowshopped and shot photos until the rain starts. After the skies clear, we wander through Newmarket and break for beers at Lucha Lounge. (N-Zed seems to have a serious affinity for all things Mexican. Though we’ll stick with Cali burritos, thankyouverymuch.)

Back downtown, we hit up Depot for some incredible oysters and tasty fish, and hit the sack early to prepare for our adventure to the Shire tomorrow.