Spaghetti on toast

Two things I've noticed right away from being here only three short days. Kiwis eat very strange food and crossing the street is VERY DANGEROUS.

First - the food. Brent and I decided to have a big breakfast yesterday. Thinking that Auckland, being an English colony, would be big on breakfast, we thought it would be a simple task. Not so. It took us the better part of an hour and a bit to find one place in the central part of Auckland (the downtown core). Their breakfast options are quite simple - which was good for Brent who just wanted a generic "big breakfast", but not so good if you like omellettes. Looking at the menu you begin to wonder what meal they are serving or what time of day it is. You can order toast or even a toasted sandwich with your choice of toppings. The first topping on the list, of course, is spaghetti. Cause what else would I want to put on toasted bread? We must be missing something in Canada. I didn't order it - but was very curious about what the excitement was.

Second - walking the streets here feels dangerous. Maybe it was tiredness the first day - but what's the reason for day 2 & 3?? Look RIGHT then LEFT. I keep saying it out loud for Brent and myself, especially after I almost stepped in front of a turning vehicle. Oh, and even when the pedestrian light is on, drivers will turn into you if they wish. It is not a very pedestrian friendly road system. Being in the downtown part of the city helps a bit, because Auckland has the pedestrian light where you can go in any direction. I feel safe there. :)

Auckland. I can't say we've spent a good amount of time in the city being 'touristy'. We have been busy planning and prepping our trip. Speaking to the DOC (which didnt' offer much help as their office was flooded out, so we must wait until we get to Hamilton), setting up our bank account, picking up the last bit of our gear, planning our routes and trying to find the right maps (impossible mission - unbeknowst to us), and downsizing our ridiculous packs. We have been reviewing our gear and getting rid of as much of it as possible. Shipping the 'extra' gear home to be tended after by my parents. (sorry mom & dad - more stuff!!) :)

We looked into renting a safety deposit box here, but the prices are ridiculous. You can get a box in Canada for under 100$. Here, the lowest we found was $337.50. So gear goes home instead of waiting for us to return in 11 months.

Our backpacks close properly now - which is a good thing, but Brent's not happy with how his weight is sitting just yet, and my pack is still too heavy. We're going to try something else tonight in hopes of finding the right solution for our needs. We start the 11month+ trecking tomorrow.

The first leg of our trip is slightly disappointing. Street walking to Hamilton - 129kms away. I think it took a toll on us emotionally. There are no tracks/trails in the area at all. No camping for a few hundred kms, and the DOC huts are only on the tracks which are in the parks and surrounding areas - again still quite far away. We thought that the Te Araroa trail would offer information between Auckland and Hamilton - but that part of the trail has not been formed yet. So we start on the streets. Not picturesque and quite rough to walk (road walking can take its toll after a while). We regroup in Hamilton and figure out our path from that point on.

This is a slight set back for us too in terms of camping. There are no options, so we're either motel'n this leg or staying in hostels (if they are available). We'll keep you posted on our achievements. :)

The flight over to Auckland was great. Brent's first time flying - and both rides were smooth. Kind of annoyed that Air Canada changed our seat from window to the middle of the plane, but Brent preferred it since it was his first flight. The AC staff were really sour. It's like they hated their jobs. Worst - we were told we would get a meal on our plane - and for 22$ we probably could have bought plastic pizzas, carrot sticks and two drinks. Ew? So Anna's candy package helped tide us over until Vancouver. We split a personal pan pizza at the airport waiting for our connection flight, then ate on the plane. It was a fight to stay awake just to eat. It was probably 2am for us (Ontario time) when we had dinner. Slept for about 5-6 hours - which is good, cause for the last two nights before the trip, there was very little sleeping to be had. Spent the rest of the time watching movies and discovering all that Air New Zealand had to offer. It was a great flight, great crew, great food (except for the pesto chicken dinner i almost ate). We had our window seats in a great location behind the Left wing. It was unfortunate that we spent all but a 1/2 hr of the flight in the dark.

We're staying at the Quadrant hotel, a hip place right near the downtown core. We flew in right after a horrible weather system hit the entire country. There is mass flooding everywhere. The northland and the east coast of the North Island have flooded roadways, saw tornadoes, and are having a hard time drying out as more rain pounds down on the country. It was rainy the first day we were here. Yesterday, the showers came and went, what I would expect from Auckland. Today, so far, clear blue skies.

We are going to do the coast to coast walk today. Hopefully we are able to find a grocery store and a binn inn to make scroggin'. At the moment, we're just trying to figure out what to do with our package to send home.

That's it for now. Day 3 in New Zealand. Not much exciting to report. (There was that crazy 80's lady that hugged us on our first dayAuckland - an action that was filmed by a small crew - maybe for some local show that we'll never see.) At the moment, Auckland is not where we want to be right now. It simply feels like a very expensive version of Toronto, with more hills and a smaller tower. We both think 3 days was too many. The ocean is beautiful, we just haven't had the time to enjoy it just yet.

Once we get on the road I think we'll both feel a lot better. And once we get past Hamilton and can start camping, we'll feel amazing!! :)

Talk to you from Hamilton.