Hi!

S and I have arrived safely in Auckland!

So I decided I should make some kind of thing that would allow people to keep track of what we're up to.

We would of course also appreciate any suggestions if you happen to have good ideas for things that we might enjoy doing!

So far?
This is what we've been up to:
[Edit] well I almost got that posted the day we actually arrived, which was wednesday. But the internet died before I could.
Now I don't have all the photos/cables etc but...

Here's an effort to catch you up:

We arrived on wednesday all safe and sound, but very tired after our long (and longer flights).
Cousin S was there to meet us at the airport, but as S was arriving a couple hours after me, we dropped off my gear and had a bit of a family catchup at S&Y's place, before returning to the airport for S.

Cousin S made us a light lunch (flying means that we had both been eating every 5 hours for quite a while) We filled the time until our hotel check-in with a trip up to the Waitakere Ranges for a bit of a walk about.














Then checked into the hotel and went down to mission bay and had a very nice Mussel pot with Blue Cheese and Spinach sauce accompanied by some Chimay Blue. We started drinking out on the deck, but decided to move in just as the mussels arrived and about 30 seconds before it started to rain. Win!

Then Cousin S dropped us off and we promptly fell asleep.

Day 2: Thurs Oct 2

We woke up early and lounged in bed watching car ads for a few hours before heading out to get NZ SIM cards. We now feel terribly local with our +64 phone numbers. (I still need to cancel my cingular acct!!!) walked down to Foodtown for a few groceries for lunch, then bck to the hotel for an afternoon of perusing guidebooks and chilling out, before meeting up with CuzS and Y for dinner in Tanuki's Cave


and a concert of the Auckland Philharmonic. S and I both stayed (mostly) awake.


Day 3:



Devonport and Takapuna. Yupee! north shore towns, very nice cute little places. The i-site tourist info place was very helpful and enthusiastic. then we largely ignored their advice and walked (all the way) to Takapuna.


Where we opened bank accounts! Fun!
Lunch was the S&R 'World Famous' Avocado, Blue Brie and Ham Sandwiches with Tomato, lettuce, mustardmayo (possibly with a bit of my finger. oops) and a very nice Latte on Takapuna Beach. Then we took the bus back to Devonport, wandered around for a bit and stoped for my first NZ local beer (Steinlager!) which was rather nice (S checked out how well Carona is cared for in shipping this far. She discovered that it's shipped just fine but that with lemon instead of lime, it foams much like methane in soapy water.) My discovery of the day was that my new hat fits tight enough to be safe from the winds on the front of the harbour ferry!

Once we got back to the CBD we grabbed some sushi and headed home for a quiet evening of reading and relaxation.

Saturady Oct 4 (That's today!)
We got up nice and early (aka about an hour later than the last few days) to got to the Otara Market with CuzS & Y. Breakfast was some hearty Hungi food and a bread thing slathered in butter and golden syrop. Mmmmmm....


Then we met Helen Clark and shopped our way through the rest of the market.

After that we were off to the Fish Market to drop Y for a Cooking class, and after carfefully looking over all the fish and fish parts, the rest of us walked over to a really sketchy car market. I don't quite have words to adequately describe the shadiness of some of the characters there.

Then off to the French Market, for some more browsing. Somehow I managed to convince S that we needed some olive oil. and bread.
MMmmm...

After that we had time for a driving tour of some of auckland neigbourhoods and a quick visit up Mount Eden. Volcanoes are cool.

Then we stopped at a gorgeous gourmet imported food store called Sabato. So. Much. Olive oil. and bread. and other wonderful wonderful things to taste. and free coffee to cleans your palate. and more samples and truffle oil and MMmmm... by then Y was quite done and waiting for us to get back to the fish market. Ooops :) Sorry.

Another couple of stops for some more groceries (Halal meat and beer and etc) looked at some very exciting wedding cakes too.

And now we're back at CuzS & Y's, mucking about and going to have a BBQ tonight.

Tomorrow... Well, who knows.

We're having a great time.