Day 11: Quirky South Australia

It is interesting how it's the little differences that you really notice when you travel to a foreign place.  Some things are obvious, like driving on the left hand side of the road.  I have gotten much better at NOT heading for the driver's side when I'm meant to be the passenger.  But when I'm driving, although I'm becoming more confident, I still struggle to find my seatbelt, accidentally turn the windshield wipers on when I mean to indicate a turn, and check for phantom traffic coming from the wrong direction when I change directions.

South Australia is a very dry state - Australia in general is the driest continent in the world.  With so little water citizens must do what they can to conserve.  Almost everyone has giant rainwater collection tanks in their back yards.  These tanks are piped to the gutters and rainwater flows straight off the roof and into the tanks.  In Eve's house, this water is preferred for drinking, because it has a better taste.  Something about essence of crushed insects and bird poo.  Somehow I think people in the states would raise a fuss and complain about germs and uncleanliness.  But here it makes sense.

Many houses have corrugated iron roofs.  This material seems to work well for the climate - I imagine the extra surface area allows for better heat transfer.  Eve's house has an extended roof made of corrugated, opaque plastic that forms a shady back patio area.  The roofing allows light in but creates a cool spot to rest during the day.  It's interesting to me that corrugated iron is not considered a classy building material in the states, yet here in a very nice Adelaide suburb, I can look out the window and see house after house with similar roofing.  It seems to work well so it seems people are going with it.

Different phrases catch my ear and it's fun to learn the ways Australians express ideas.  "Please be upstanding," means you are asking people to stand up.  And, "I'm stuffed," means you are tired, while, "I'm chockers," (like chock full) means you have eaten too much.  Gas is LPG and petrol is gasoline.  Whingeing is what you do instead of whining.  Oregano is pronounced oh-ray-GAH-no, since they don't use miles there is no miles-per-gallon, or even kilos-per-gallon, but instead you could talk about fuel economy, and a pharmacy is called instead a chemist.  Biscuits really are cookies and lollies is the word for candy.  Just small things and easily understandable, but I always notice when I hear them and the expressions are just different enough to make me stand out when I talk.  Hopefully that ads to my mystery as a foreigner!

Tomorrow Eve and I head out on our road trip/Outback adventure.  Apparently they have been getting some heavy rains in the outback, so the mosquitoes and flies are pretty bad up there.  We will have to plan most of our outdoor activities for very early in the morning as it can get intensely hot during the day (up to 50C = 122F.  And I'm told that temperature is measured in the shade!)  Our itinerary will take us and our hired Spaceship camper van to Wilpena Pound National Park in the Flinders Ranges, where we hope to climb St. Mary Peak; then to Port Augusta, on the ocean; northward to Coober Pedy, a mining town where it is dangerous to wander after dark in case you fall down a mine shaft, and it's so hot that the population lives underground; farther north to the Northern Territory where we will visit Uluru and the Olgas, interesting rock formation in the middle of nowhere; and finally to Alice Springs, the "metropolis" in the middle of the desert.  We have stocked up on groceries and DVDs for our trip and are looking forward to some adventure and fun times.  We plan to be back next Saturday so I won't be able to update the blog for a while but I look forward to sharing photos and stories when I return.

Day 10: Australian Animal Encounters

Today I made the trip back to Cleland Wildlife Park, in hopes of seeing some animals and patting a koala.  My first challenge was navigating my way to the park via car.  I borrowed Eve's car and thanks to her good directions I made my way there with no trouble.  It makes me a bit nervous to be on the left hand side of the road, but I think I did well.  Once I arrived at the park, I encountered heaps of Australian native creatures.  The park was wonderful because most of the animals were able to roam around in large enclosures that you walked through gates to enter.  Thus it didn't feel like they were caged.  Here are some photos and information that I learned about the creatures that I saw.

These colorful parrots are called lorikeets.  They are very pretty but don't sit still for very long so it can be difficult to get a good photo.  They are fairly common and I have seen many of them flying about Adelaide.

 

This little guy is a wombat, a hairy-nosed wombat to be precise.  Here he is eating his dinner and then a closeup of the wombat face.  He is a little pig like in his appearance.  Tiny hairs on his nose help him to retain moisture in his breath so he does not dry out as fast.

This is an echidna.  He is spiky with a tiny, long black nose.  Echidnas have no natural predators.  They eat ants and insects with a long, sticky tongue.

The next area that I wandered through contained a bunch of wallabies.  Wallabies are like miniature kangaroos.  They are very soft and cute.  The wildlife park allows you to purchase food to feed the kangaroos and wallabies, so they came right up to me to see if I had anything to share.  The wallabies were my favorite animal of the day.

Next I saw what I think is a potoroo. And an emu, in the distance. There were also some more wallabies, lying around in the shade to keep cool.

 

Here is a Tasmanian Devil.  The Tazzy Devils' ears turn bright red when they are under stress.  When I saw them they were being fed and very anxious about the upcoming food, so they were snarling and making a lot of unpleasant snarling noises.  Apparently this is what earned them their name as devils.  Tasmanian Devils only live on the island of Tasmania, and are rather rare these days.  Part of the population has a genetic disposition to some type of facial cancer, so their numbers are being decimated by this.  The next generation keeps inheriting the gene and passing it along.  There are efforts underway to remove the genetically unblemished animals from the island until the affected members have died off, and then to reintroduce them.  Tasmanian devils and scavengers.  They are not very good hunters because they have poor eyesight and are kind of clumsy.  They will eat carrion or roadkill which also results in them getting hit and killed by cars.  A wild Tasmanian Devil will stuff itself full of as much food as it can eat, never being sure when the next meal will come.  Their tails will become engorged with fat from their meal and they can live on this supply until they find something else to eat.   Tasmanian Devils are marsupials.  This means that their young are born very underdeveloped.  When they are born they are about the size of a grain of rice!  Mini-devils!  There are about 20 born in each litter but as only 4 can nurse at a time, it is only the first four to crawl into their mother's pouch and begin nursing that survive.  

 

Next to the Tasmanian devils was an enclosure with monitor lizards, Australia's largest lizard.

From there I moved on to pat a koala.  The koalas at the wildlife center are orphaned, and have been raised by hand so they don't mind being touched.  A wild koala could do real damage to you with its very sharp claws.  Koala paws are designed for climbing.  A koala has two thumbs on its front paws and a special grippy pad on its rear paws, all to help with climbing.  Koalas are very sedentary; they sleep 19 hours every day and spend most of the rest of the time eating.  They only eat eucalyptus leaves (of which there are many varieties in Australia, but the koala only eats a few of them) and must eat about a kilo of leaves every day.  Normally the koala would not be able to digest eucalyptus, but when they are old enough to start eating solid food, their mother will secrete an enzyme from glands in her cheeks that the baby will ingest, and this allows its digestive system to handle breaking down the leaves.  The koala I got to pat is named Peter.

I watched dingos and water birds being fed.  Here are some photos of them.

 

  

  

The funniest bird to watch was the pelican. He would open his mouth wide for the keeper to toss in a fish.  It's interesting to hear the bird songs in Australia, because they sound nothing like any birds that I am used to in the states. 

Day 9: Aussie Sports

I have been learning a bit about sports halfway around the world.  Currently the Australian Open is on for tennis and it is extremely popular.  I have watched quite a few matches since they are on the TV when you go into a sports bar or ice cream place.  I never knew that tennis was so interesting, but it's really quite good.

I've also been learning the rules for cricket, which has always been a mystery to me.  I'm still not sure I completely understand.  It's hard to figure it out on tv since they only show you a small portion of the entire playing field.  Here's what I have learned: there are several types of matches that you might have in cricket.  The longest is called a test match, and it lasts for 5 days.  Each team plays a certain number of innings, which is a specified number of "overs."  They alternate innings, which may take days to complete.  An over is a certain number of "pitches" although I think they're called "bowls."  So the bowler bowls the ball to the batsman, who is trying to protect the wicket that is behind him from getting knocked over.  He tries to hit the ball far enough so that he can run from his crease to touch his bat over the opposite crease.  There is also a second batsman running from the opposite direction, although they only bat when they are at one end.  Each time a batsman puts their bat over the opposite crease they score one run.  The bowling team tries to get each batsman out in turn.  They do this by knocking over the wicket, or getting the bowler to hit the ball up in the air and then catching it and probably some other ways that I am unaware of.  The batsmen can bat as long as they want until they get out.  The inning is over when the bowling team gets all the batsmen on the other team out, OR when the specified number of overs has been completed.  There are shorter versions than a test match, too, like a 50 over game or a 20 over game, which might take one day or three hours to play, respectively.

Another game that I've been learning is Netball.  I think this is similar to the brand of women's basketball that my mom used to play when she was in high school.  In Netball, each end of the court is marked off with a semi-circle around the basket (which is just a basket on the end of a pole, no backboard), a line midway between the semi-circle and halfcourt, and a line marking the halfcourt.  There are 7 players on a team and each player wears a jersey with their position marked on it. For example, you would have a GK who would be the goal keeper, and a WA who is the wing attack or the GD who is goal defense.  Each position is only allowed to be in certain locations on the court.  So if you were playing GD you would be allowed inside the arc surrounding your team's basket (which you would be defending) and 3/4 of the way down the court, but you are not allowed to pass the 3/4 line.  The GK is allowed close to the basket, but can only travel to the 1/4 line on his side of the court.  WA players cannot get in close to defend their basket but are allowed within the opponent's circle to hopefully score.  The ball is not dribbled like in basketball, rather passed from player to player.  You may not move with the ball but you can only have it in your hands for 3 seconds.  Players defending you must stay 1 1/2 feet away.

I went to watch Eve play a netball game the other day.  I was struck by the absurd number of penalties assessed against players.  A penalty means that the ball is returned to where it was and the play is repeated.  The game can be rather fast paced but also very stop and go when numerous penalties are called.  It was fun to watch though and I wished that I could play, too.

Day 8: Australia Day!

Some of you might look at your calendar for 26 January and see a notation that says "Australia Day."  This is a national holiday in Australia.  I was lucky enough to be here to celebrate it.  Australia Day commemorates the 1788 arrival of the First Fleet of 11 convict ships from Great Britain, and the raising of the Union Jack at Sydney Cove by its commander Captain Arthur Phillip.  It is a day to celebrate everything that is great about Australia and being Australian.  It is, however, celebrated under some protest, including those who contend that Australia Day leaves out the original Aboriginal inhabitants of Australia.

Originally, I thought that Australia Day must be similar to America's Fourth of July.  In some ways it is, but apparently Australians are not nearly as excited about displays of patriotism such as hoisting an Aussie flag or singing the Australian National Anthem (which I am working on learning - so far I know that it starts out: Australians all let us rejoice; for we are young and free... that's all I've got so far.)  Apparently Australian media has been pumping for displays of Australianism on Australia Day, since we saw tons of people dressed in yellow and green (the colors of the leading sports team) or wearing Aussie flags as capes, towels, shorts, shoes, hats, tatoos, etc.  Eve says she has never seen so much of that on Australia Day before. 

To celebrate the holiday (it is the day before children return to school after their summer holidays) Eve and I went for a bike ride along the river Torrens in Adelaide.  We rode about 16km (10 miles) from the city to the beach.  There is a bike and walking trail along the Torrens called the Linear Park.  It is quite beautiful and used by many people on bike or on foot.

The first thing we needed for our trip were bikes!  We scrounged around in Eve's family's shed and found her dad Pete's bike, which he kindly let us use (it is a nice road bike) and Eve's bike, which she got for $50 from a Subway promotion.  We did some maintenance on her bike and also found two helmets - one belonging to her dad and the other to her brother, which was more of a skateboarder's helmet than a bike helmet.

After Eve's admonishment to "ride on the left!"  we were off, but right away faced a couple of challenges: I found that Pete's bike's brakes didn't really allow you to come to a complete stop, they would only slow you down.  I also didn't understand at first how to shift gears.  And Eve's bike was rife with issues: the handlebars were loose and would twist up and down in your hands and also move left and right; her rear tire was soft and she couldn't change gears at all!  Undaunted, we slowly made our way to the beach, arriving about two hours later after several stops to tend to the bikes.

By this point in time, both of us were, as the Aussie's say, "stuffed" (exhausted) and the beach looked beautifully relaxing to our hot, stiff and sore bodies.  We got some fish & chips from a local shop, as well as some skorthalia which is a greek garlic and potato dip that goes really well with pita or chips.  Then we went for a swim and bobbed in the ocean for an hour or two.  The water was a perfect temperature - not too cold but cool enough to be refreshing.  Neither of us were too keen to ride all the way back along the Linear Parkway, so we caught a train back to the city.  Our efforts to return to our car were thwarted by Australia Day, as we ran smack into the Australia Day parade after exiting the train station downtown.  Our route was blocked by the parade so we had to wait it out.  Once it had finished we cycled back to the car, drove home and then dashed to Eve's friend Hannah's house.  It was after 7pm and we had told her we'd come over at 2!  Luckily, Hannah's party was pretty low key since we were both tired.  Despite all of the snags to our plans, it was a really fun way to spend my first Australia Day!

Here's a black swan and a pelican, both seen on our bike trip...

I don't know what kind of bird this is, but it was interesting looking...

Day 7: Australian Eats

Eve and I left the house after noon today since we had some business to conduct.  For starters, we booked a "Spaceship" for next week.  This is a van that has been decked out as a motor home with a bed in the back, a stove, a refrigerator and a dvd player.  We are pretty excited about it.  It will be our home for five days when we use it to drive to Alice Springs and Uluru (Ayers Rock) next week.  Eve also helped me sort out a cheap flight to Sydney in a few weeks.

Once we finally got our plans figured out, we headed back into the hills to visit Hanhdorf, Australia's oldest German town.  It turns out that the English were not the only ones to settle Australia, but Italian and German immigrants were also common, and formed their own communities once they arrived.  Hanhdorf is a cute, touristy town.  It reminds me of Freeport in Maine.  We lunched at Otto's Cafe on sausage rolls.  These are pastry surrounding sausage.  You can also get tomato sauce (ketchup) injected into your sausage roll, which I think it just about the greatest thing ever.  My determination is that sausage rolls are delicious!

To follow up the sausage roll, I bought a Lamington.  I'm told these are very Australian.  They are spongey vanilla cake covered in chocolate with coconut.  The one that I got was also jam filled, but that isn't a necessity.  Tomorrow is Australia Day, and apparently Lamingtons are essential for Australia Day celebrations.

From Hahndorf we headed to Cleeland Wildlife Park, but since we didn't arrive there until about 4pm, the staff advised that we return a different day to be able to enjoy all that they have on offer.  I plan to go back there later in the week.  We did see a little bit of the park, including this cute little creature, called a numbat who was in a cage with an open top so we could look down on him from above, and several creepy snakes.

Later in the day we headed to North Adelaide, Montefiore Hill, to get a view of the city. There is also a statue there of Colonel Light, who laid out the city of Adelaide.  In the statue he is pointing at the city and presumably explaining where he thinks things should go.  North Adelaide is a trendy section of town, and since the night was cool and fine for walking, we walked up and down the main street, and then settled on an A.B. for dinner.  This is gyro meat and french fries with a very tzatziki-like sauce on top of it all.  It doesn't look very nice, but as those of you who know how much I love tzatziki will imagine, I thought it was delicious.  It is debated what the initials A.B. stand for, but mostly the given references are pretty revolting so I will spare you them and just say that it was certainly tasty.

Day 6: Alligator Gorge and Mt. Remarkable National Park

I was invited by my old friend Bek (who also lives in SA) to go on a drive today.  Our destination was Mr. Remarkable National Park, in the Southern Flinders Range.  Bek and her husband Adrian came and picked me up and we set off for the three hour drive.  On our way north we took smaller roads that snaked through grape producing areas with vineyards lining the roads and farmland where we could see sheep and cows or rows of crops from the windows of the car.  We passed the Golden North factory, birthplace of ice cream treats like the Giant Twin (vanilla ice cream covered in a chocolate coating on a stick) in the town of Laura.  We then stopped for lunch at a pub in Melrose.  Apparently every town in the countryside has a pub, which consists of a bar and sometimes also a dining room.  Pub food is things like burgers, seafood and chicken schnitzel.  This is a piece of tenderized chicken, breaded and fried.  The food at the Melrose pub was priced quite reasonably and was also rather delicious.  From Melrose it was only about twenty more minutes drive to the National Park.  We found the car park and embarked on a circuit hike of Alligator Gorge.

The hike led down a set of stairs to a lookout, and then continued to the gorge floor.  It was rather hot out, and the trek down the stairs left us all with shaky feeling legs.  After viewing a rather large spider hanging on a web just off the trail, we turned right and walked a short way to an area called The Terraces.  The entire base of the gorge used to be a river, and the water carved the rock into a series of flat sections, which resemble terraces.  The photo at left shows ripples in the rock, left there by the water when the surface was once sand.

We continued hiking, retracing our steps back past where we'd entered the gorge and continuing through an area known as The Narrows.  It was quite hot and dry, but a steady breeze blowing helped it not to feel unbearable.  The ground was rocky or dusty, and as we moved along we saw a cool lizard sunning himself on a rock.  In The Narrows the rocky walls of the canyon rose up on either side of us.  It reminded me a bit of hiking in "The Box" in the Grand Canyon.  Not quite as tall, but still rather stunning. 

We completed our trip through the gorge, and the trail climbed slightly as it headed back toward the road.  Suddenly, we startled a pair of kangaroos - a mom and a joey - from their hiding place behind some trees.  They hopped slowly away but not until we were able to get some good photos.  A bit more climbing and some switchbacks brought us back to the car park and relief from the heat in the air conditioning.

Now headed for home, we made a detour at Hancock's Lookout, a fabulous view down into the valley below and the town of Port Augusta, at the end of Spencer Gulf.  It was quite a contrast to be high in the dry, hot hills, but see the Pacific Ocean sparkling far away below. 

We made our way through a pass between impressively high, domed hills, until we found the junction with the main highway, which we took south back toward Adelaide.  Along the way we stopped at a petrol station for a Giant Twin (yummy!) and to refuel.  We also made a brief stop in Snowtown, which is gruesomely known as the storage location of bodies in a serial murder case about 10 years ago.  I am pointing to the Snowtown sign in this picture, to show that I was there.  No worries, we made it out okay.

Day 5: An Australian Wedding

This morning Eve and I headed off to a wedding, which she had obtained an invitation for me prior to my arrival. The invitation actually said: Eve + an American friend or two. The wedding was located in the hills of Adelaide, in a small town called Mylor at a Baptist camp. I enjoyed getting out of the city and seeing some of the countryside. We arrived early because we were transporting chairs for the reception, so we also helped set up. I thought the decorations were really lovely: small tables with white tablecloths dotted underneath shade umbrellas and strung between by decorative baubles and white flowers.

Eve's friend Colleen married Dylan in an outdoor, casual ceremony. The bride looked really beautiful and the wedding was very like an American ceremony, except for the signing of the register (like the marriage license), which is done by the couple while the audience witnesses it and as a part of the ceremony. Afterward there was an outdoor reception with little snacks to eat brought around on platters.  Apparently Australians like to give speeches during wedding receptions, and these can just drag on and on so everyone sort of hates them.  This wedding had only a few speeches and they were fairly short.  Everyone seemed pleased about that.  I was a bit worried that I would end up doing a lot of standing around with no one to talk to, or that I would have to make small talk all day, but things actually turned out better than I'd thought.  I met a guy who lives in NZ and works as an Adventure Guide and asked him about the company that I hope to do some work for.  He had a good report about them which is encouraging to hear.

Once the reception ended, Eve and I drove back to Adelaide and went to an open air cinema in the park.  They were showing Avatar.  We took a feast with us for dinner and borrowed some bean bag chairs from Eve's church to lean on.  It was a really great atmosphere and we both enjoyed the parts of Avatar that we were awake for!  It was a good end to a great day.

PS I have been posting the photos with embedded HTML captions.  You should be able to read these if you are using IE by just hovering over the photo.  In Firefox they don't seem to work, though.   So for now, if you want to see the captions, you'll either need to check the HTML source code or use IE.  Sorry :o(

Day 4: Adelaide Adventures

Today day dawned sunny and not quite as hot as yesterday.  Eve's mum, Barb, thinks that every country has its own level of heat and humidity to which a visitor must learn to cope but its inhabitants are automatically acclimated.  I've been working on learning to sound more Australian.  So far my favorite Aussie phrase is, "no worries."  It is said all the time in place of our "no problem."  I guess if I wanted to sound even more Australian I could add a "mate" at the end.  I think they might notice my accent however...

This morning Eve had a breakfast at work to attend, so I made a trip to the grocery store to buy some things for lunch while she was at work.  Interestingly, food prices in Australia are staggeringly high.  A case of Dr. Pepper, for example, cost $89 Australian dollars, which in US dollars is not much less, since the exchange rate is an unfavorable (for me) $0.95 Aus/1.00 US.  Eve neglected to explain to me that the supermarket will not give you a plastic bag for your groceries unless you pay for one... so there was a moment in which the check out girl and I stared at each other, with me wondering why she had just laid my purchases on the counter and she probably wondering why I was such an idiot.

After Eve was finished work, about 2pm, we headed over to the library to check out travel guides on Australia, and I got my first driving lesson on the left hand side.  It will take some getting used to but wasn't actually too difficult.  I just have to remember that left turns are tight turns (easy ones) and right turns, which cross oncoming traffic, are loose.  I should be all set by the time we head off on our road trip of South Australia and the Northern Territory.

While we were at the library, Eve's brother Joel called to see if we wanted to go swimming, so off we went to the Burnside Pool to do a few laps.  Joel is the lead singer of a popular Australian folk-rock band called The Beards.  They sing songs about having beards and how everyone should have one.  They're fabulous!  Check them out at http://www.thebeards.com.au/.

Back from the pool we whipped up some delicious pasta with sun-dried tomatoes and homemade pesto.  Eve had a Hen's Night to attend tonight, but she'd gotten me an invitation.  A Hen's Night in Australia is the same thing as a Bachelorette Party in America.  It was fun to meet some of Eve's friends and I didn't feel too weird crashing their party since everyone was very friendly.

Day 3: Adelaide Australia!

Today I got up early in my windowless hostel room (quite annoying actually, since it's impossible to tell what time it is or what the weather is like, and sleeping (read: hungover) people are always bothered when you put the light on, etc.  Anyway, I got myself up early and took myself to the airport, where I boarded a flight for Australia to see my friend Eve.  I made it through lots of customs and passport control, (I got scolded because my chapstick and contact lens case (my liquids) weren't in a ziplock bag - I think the security people might have lost sight of the larger picture of their job) and arrived in Australia about 5 hours later.  Once there I found it pays to be on a flight from NZ to Australia with a US passport because while everyone else was waiting in the NZ/Aus passport line, I went straight to the head of the "other passports" line.  Additionally, if you have things to declare at customs in Adelaide, apparently this is also good because most people don't, so I didn't have to wait in a line there either and I flew through passport control and customs.  The woman who checked my hiking shoes and poles to make sure that I wasn't bringing any foreign dirt or seeds into Australia looked at my fleece jacket and adroitly informed me, "you won't be needing that jumper."  When I walked outside I found this to be completely true, as it was over 100 F in Adelaide today.  A bit hotter even that NZ, I think, and hotter than what I have been used to these last few months.  (I hear that there is quite a snowstorm on in Maine at the moment, sorry about that guys.)   My friend Eve then collected me at the airport and whisked me off through Adelaide to begin the Australian leg of my adventure.

We joined another of her friends on a trip to the Burnside Mall, which is Adelaide's trendiest mall, I'm told.  It is a collection of stores along the sides of a covered walkway.  We had some ice cream to cool down and later headed out to the Glenelg beach with another friend.  It was nice and cool down by the water and we sat on the sand and ate some chips (fries) from a beachside shop.  I stuck my feet in the water and it was colder than I expected it would be, but that might have been because the air temperature was so high.  I started asking about shark attacks and poisonous snakes and spiders, and Eve and Hannah's answers disagreed somewhat.  Eve doesn't want me to worry.  I think Hannah is more concerned with truth.  Either way, I don't think it's an enormous concern, but probably not a bad idea to be educated on these things.

Day 2: In Which I Get A Lot Done

Today has been a rather eventful day!  Since I was up so early yesterday (before 4 am because they woke us up for breakfast on the plane) the day seemed endless!  Today has been a more normal length day (I am relieved that not every day is that long in NZ) but I have still managed to accomplish quite a bit.  First though, an update on yesterday:

Yesterday I took myself on a little urban hike. There is this "trail" that goes from one side of Auckland (the Pacific Ocean) to the other (the Tasman Sea). It's called the coast to coast trail. Auckland is on a narrow isthmus (look it up on a map) so there's ocean everywhere. In fact, just today I learned that you are never more than 105 miles from the ocean no matter where you go in NZ. Anyway, the trail was 16 km long, which is about 9.5 miles. I didn't wear good footwear so my feet got a bit sore and also I forgot sunscreen and I got a bit burned. Apparently there is a hole in the ozone layer right over New Zealand.  They have this ad campaign here "slip, slop, slap" which stands for "slip on a shirt, slop on some sunscreen and slap on a hat to protect yourself from the sun."  End result: the sun in NZ is harsh.  It was also really hot yesterday.  I will do better with the sunscreen in the future, though, I promise. At times the trail was kind of hard to follow, and I got off it a few times. It was mostly on city streets, but also ran through several nice parks. I saw Mt. Eden and accompanying crater (Auckland is surrounded by old volcanos) and One Tree Hill, U2 song fame, although it is now "no tree hill" since the tree that was on it was destroyed.  After I finished the walking track, I took a bus back to Auckland.  The driver was quite cheery and helpful, as most people have been so far.

Now, on to today: After a wonderful night's sleep, I attended the IEP orientation this morning, which was really helpful.  (IEP is an overseas exchange program that is the NZ arm of the US place that got me my visa.) Everything is feeling a lot more manageable, they were friendly and very helpful, and I am really glad that I have them on my side.  They have free internet from their office, which is across the street from my hostel, and they were able to get me the forms that I need to process my IRD number, which is like a SS number, so I can get paid once I start working.  I also visited the Kiwi bank, and opened an account.  This was actually easier than it is in the states, but only because IEP told me how to do it.  I dropped off my "application" which was really just a copy of my passport (because it has all the details that they need) and went back 2 hours later to pick up my new ATM card.  The Kiwi bank branches are located in every post office (how convenient!) and you can also do things like pay your phone bill OR buy stamps there, too.  I also got a SIM card for my phone with a discount carrier (it was only $2), so I now have a working phone in New Zealand!  I'm glad that my phone worked out and it was definitely worth it to unlock it before I left.  It feels very cool to be contactable.  IEP also recommended "the best bar in Auckland" with really good food and specials going on right now as well as a discount for IEP members.  I asked the girl staying in my room if she wanted to go there with me for dinner tonight, so that is where we are headed.  Tomorrow I fly out to Australia to visit with my friend Eve.  Let the adventure continue!

Day 1

Here I am, arrived at last in New Zealand, Aoteroa, land that I've been dreaming about for so long!  (Technically, I haven't really gotten very far since I'm still at the airport.)  The flight arrived before 5 AM (yawn) on Tuesday morning, so I'm just chillin' here for a bit until it becomes light out and places start to open.  I don't think I'll be able to check into my hostel until a bit later.  I was able to sleep for a few hours on the plane (maybe 6 interrupted hours?).  I'm not sure because I didn't have a watch with me.  I met a Kiwi man and woman waiting to board my flight in San Francisco who seemed delighted that I was going to spend one year in NZ and do it by myself.  On the flight I had a window seat, and there was a woman n the aisle seat but no one in between us, which was really nice, and also a rarity, I think, since almost every other seat was filled.  The service on the flight was really great, and everyone seemed to take time to make sure questions were answered and needs were met.  They were all very kind, and helpful.  We had individual TV screens with loads of options to watch.  I saw an episode of Top Gear that I hadn't seen before (the one where they do a time trial rally with vintage cars), and a foreign film that was a little disturbing and not very good.  I also watched most of Michael Jackson's "This is It" over again, after I woke up.

It is hard to believe that I am so far away from home and it seems a bit overwhelming and fascinating to me how it is that people are so widespread throughout all corners of the earth.  I'm really excited to be visiting a new one.  Here's to lots of adventures in New Zealand.