New Zealand at Last!

IThe flight from BWI to LAX was very long, and I started to worry because I knew the flight to NZ was more than twice as long as my first flight. Fortunately, the flight was very pleasant. Josephine keeps remarking that it doesn't seem like we could be this far away after such a nice flight. We both slept a lot, and the selection of movies was good, and also, airplane food is so cute, which kept us entertained and in a good mood for the whole flight.
We landed on time, dropped our bags at the hostel, and headed for the Auckland War Museum. I had a set of googlemap directions, but it looked like a very circuitous way to get to the museum. I tried a shortcut or two, only to find out that they did not have sidewalks, which is why my map did not use those roads. I imagine that this is when Josephine started to get worried. We'd only been on the ground for about an hour and we were already getting lost. But she was patient, and we got there eventually. The museum is in the center of the Auckland Domain, which seems to be what they call parks here. The trees in the Auckland Domain were amazing! I thought I was in Fangorn Forest for a minute.

The Museum was really cool, but hard to take pictures of. They have a ton of Maori artifacts and information about New Zealand's participation in the world wars. What really interested me, though, was a small exhibit on War Brides. When New Zealand men were stationed abroad during the war, they met and fell in love with local women. After the war, the women who had married or were engaged to New Zealand servicemen were put on ships together and sailed halfway across the world. Many of them would never see their families again. Can you imagine that kind of a leap of faith? To get on a boat and sail for a land you've never seen, to know that you'll never return to your homeland, and all for love? It's very romantic.

The Auckland War Museum

Josephine beside a 25 meter long War Canoe.

After the Museum, we up the SkyTower, which is a giant observation needle above the Auckland skyline. The views were great, and it was a good place to sit down for a while. We were amazed to see the Auckland War Museum so far away. We really walked a lot, and in Auckland, you can't go two blocks without walking up a steep hill, so that was a pretty impressive walk.

They have a thing where you can jump off the SkyTower. You're connected to two vertical cables, and you fall part way, to just in front of the window of the observation platform. I think this is free advertising for the jump. Then you fall the rest of the way down. We didn't do it, but I did snap some pictures of a guy falling. Pretty wild. I could barely stand on the clear parts of the floor, so I'm not sure I could have made that jump.

Falling...

Even with the sign, the clear floors scared me. (The sign says the floors are as strong as the concrete, but I'm not so sure.)

My overall impression of NZ so far is that it’s very expensive! I paid $4.50 for a bottle of water today. Even in US$, that’s $3.50! I paid $6 for the internet so I could post this blog. (so you'd better appreciate it :-) But the people seem very nice, and the trees and the views are beautiful. The food seems very similar to food in the States. I saw the usual fast food, except Taco Bell, which doesn’t seem to be popular outside of the States. Josephine and I ate dinner at a Pita Pit, which was just like the ones in the States. Overall, it’s not that different, and then suddenly someone speaks, or you see one of those trees, and you realize, “I’m in New Zealand! Wow!”