First of all, I am going to say that Wendy's blog about our New Zealand trip is WAY better than I will be able to put together, so I urge you to check out her blog at http://www.wendywordage.blogspot.com. It rules!
But I still want to give you my perspective on things. After all, when you have a major fever and cold, it gives you a very different perspective on traveling in a different country! LOL. Teasing. Well, only partly.
Let's start from the beginning: Wendy. Wendy rules. She is an awesome chick I met at the folk school as my roommate, and we were instant friends. Fast-forward three years later, I asked her to go to NZ instead of the folk school and I am so happy she agreed!!! What a great travel partner. She's outdoorsy like me, loves to do off-the-beaten-track types of things. We decided to rent a campervan--what amounts to a minivan with a bed in the back--to travel around the country and see and experience as much as possible. Wendy had 12 days, I had 18. We arrived in Auckland after a crazy two days in the air, yikes.
Fri. Feb. 5th in New Zealand was super sunny and quite warm--21 deg. C, somewhere in the 70s but the sun is way hot down there and the ozone thin. After some initial difficulties, I finally figured out (mostly) how to drive on the right-hand side of the vehicle and in the left-hand lane, in rush-hour traffic, wow!! What a feat, especially while delirious from the flights. There were a few close calls on the left-hand mirror (poor Wendy clutching the door, trying to kindly tell me I need to move to the right a bit more!!) but we made it intact to our first destination--the Barrycourt Hotel in the Parnell district of Auckland. Relatively cheap, clean, great balcony view of the skyline. We spent our first evening relaxing, walking around Parnell, purchasing wine to take to a Thai restaurant (it's byo at most restaurants), talking girly stuff. I like Auckland! Soon time for bed, thank goodness. I was beat.
No comments:
Post a Comment