Many Meetings

Today Asta and Maja arrived! I'm about to run out of internet but I wanted to post this. We went to Waiheke Island and spent the whole day on the beach. Awesome.

PENGUINS!!!!

Penguins. Penguins, penguins, penguins, penguins.

Also, penguins.

*edit* i feel i should add: steph took this picture, i wasn't yelling about penguins for no reason :)

A Short Cut to Mushrooms

Today we climbed a big hill. 

Auckland is filled to the brim with Asians. Seriously, there are times when it feels like we're in Bangkok. In some places every restaurant, store and person in sight is Asian of some description. Lots and lots of choices of Asian food, it's pretty much all there is haha.

This picture is from the top of Mt. Eden, which is a huge extinct volcano in the middle of the city. The view was spectacular. Behind us you can see the mountains to the west of the city. We're thinking about hiking all the way to the west coast to see the black sand beaches!

In more mundane news, i ate a "Seafood Sensation" sub at Subway. Not the best choice. 

Love!

Three is Company

Well, we're here! After an agonizingly long flight, (seriously, no matter how much i prepared myself, i was NOT prepared for sitting in a chair for longer than I've ever been in a vehicle in my life) we have safely arrived in beautiful Auckland, NZ. We landed at about quarter to nine in the morning and it was about 19 degrees and sunny outside. The sun is very very hot here! In the shade you're shivering and as soon as the sun comes out you can feel that deliciously powerful UV roasting off the top couple layers of flesh.

Now, firstly let me assure you that despite what these first two images may imply, we are in fact doing OTHER things than just drinking beer all day long. This magical moment illustrates the first place we went after arriving in downtown Auckland from the airport; our first step back into the world of the living (we aren't quite there yet, its about 7 at night now and we're just trying to stay awake) We're sitting in the hostel after a day of journeying around the city on foot.

Interwebbery is in fact kind of tricky to find. It costs $3 an hour to use it here at the hostel. We're already pretty excited to get out of the city and head south but there's a few fun touristy things for us to do while we're up here.
Not sure when I'll be posting next, but now you know we are all alive :)

james
(and steph with the camera)

A Long-Expected Party

So here we are at beautiful Pearson International. Check-in was uneventful, they let Matt through despite his clear genetic inferiority. We all actually ended up on the same plane, which was totally unexpected and a bonus! The American customs were very tough and scary. In their imaginations.

It seems crazy that we're finally here! A few months ago when we booked the tickets it seemed years away but the last few weeks have flown by. We bought one last Canadian beverage at the bar here (for almost 10 dollars each. that Canadian money was just burning a hole in our pocket) and then it's farewell home!

The kids behind us are absolutely hysterical. Couple of ten year old girls talking about going to L.A. where all the awesome, cool people are.

Well, since nothing of note has happened yet, that is all for now. I love you all very much.

James