October 1, 2005

Ahhhh!….I’m finally here in New Zealand. It was a long trip over, but well worth it. I flew out of Denver at six o’clock at night on Sept.28, had a couple hour layover in LAX, and had a direct flight to Auckland from there (12.5 hours) arriving at six o’clock in the morning two days later.

Immigration went rather well, only had two minor holdups with the customs man. First he wanted to confiscate my beer, but I wouldn’t let him. Not that he had any place too, he was just thirsty is all. I refused to give it because I would have hated to brought it so far only to have it taken away. It was a six pack of Fat Tire for my host Mom, Kerry, because she missed having it from when she was out here. Next he was upset because I didn’t have an address of where I was staying my first night. He was like, “well, would you let me into America if I didn’t know where I was going?” I responded, “Perhaps, I didn’t think much of it. I mean I know the name of the town I’m going too, Orewa, and didn’t think of it since I’m being picked up here at the airport.” So as he stamped my passport, he looked at me all seriously like and said, “next time do your homework mate.” I said, “will do” and went on my way.

I had a warm welcoming as I walked out into the greeting area by Kerry and Paige. Paige was real cute and had made a ‘welcome to New Zealand Andy’ sign all done up and waved it around. They’re both very pleasant and nice as is the rest of the family who I met later on. They showed me around and took me to downtown Auckland to get my work permit/immigration papers situated, try marmite (awful by the way…quite salty…similar to vegimite they say…), see the wharf, get a bite to eat, and then they took me up north to show where they live in Orewa and surrounding areas. The land is lovely and seems to be surrounded by water no matter which way you turn or go. The home is nice as well, actually really nice. I’d say I’m staying in the best room in the house. It sits atop the house with it’s own private bath and balcony which overlooks the city and a nearby bay (I’ll have to post some pics as soon as I get to a faster Internet connection that isn’t dial-up.).

I’ve also been staying busy by getting setup with a bank account that has a ‘cashflow’ card(like a debit card I’d say, but with more fees), IRD number (like our SSN), meeting the rest of Kerry’s family, Pen(25) her daughter, Derrell her husband, and Glen(22) her son, and looking into buying a car. I think it’ll be best to buy an older vehicle to beat around since I’ll be here a while traveling around rather than dealing with buses and other means of transportation. I’ll prolly be able to sell it for close to what I bought it for when I leave too. All in all, sounds like the way to go. Best get going now as I can smell supper cooking upstairs.

Oh yes, I think I’m adjusting quite nicely to the time change. NZ is about six hours behind Colorado and a day ahead.

Take care everyone!

P.S. – Paige says, “It’s been great having Andy here, and I hope he stays here a long time cause he’s a good friend. Oh! And hi to everybody out there!”