Greeting From Kiwi Land!

We are here in lovely New Zealand! Interestingly, our first impression was that this area reminds us of Hawaii (lush greenery and certain neighborhoods), San Diego (coastal scenery and flowers) and Portland (city center and hills of Auckland)! So, it is all familiar to us -- except the driving! Eric has been driving their Toyota, and it is a stick shift, so he has to use his left hand to shift (we may have stripped a few gears). However, the most difficult transition is that the turn signal is on the right side of the steering wheel, so every time he tries to signal a turn, he turns the windshield wipers on. It has gotten to the point where we start laughing every time a turn comes up! Turning in general is quite challenging, as is crossing the street because we automatically look the wrong way! Eric also found establishing eye contact with another car challenging. You know how you catch the eye of an oncoming car before you turn to make sure the driver sees you? He realized that he thinks he's doing this, only to find that he's looking at the passenger, not the driver, because he's sitting in the left seat!

Anyway, we are having a good time -- the house has worked out fine. A little ant invasion the first day and the lack of cooking utensils and cookware have been the only challenges. The location of the house is great! We walk right down the street to the center of town (Mission Bay) and the beach. There is a 2-block stretch of restaurants, bakeries and coffee houses (a little like downtown Encinitas, but more European in feel). The playground and beach is so convenient for us, and we enjoyed being out late at the playground (til 9 or so). There is a real "vacation" feel because it is now summer vacation for all the kids. In addition, it seems many businesses take until Jan 4th off, so everyone is out enjoying life. As we were walking across the park to come home, we enjoyed watching families and friends playing rugby and cricket!

The flight was long (almost 13 hours) and tiring (all nighter), but after all the craziness of getting the house ready and preparing for Christmas, not to mention the crazy final 48 hours, it finally hit me at LAX (after we had checked in and made it thru security) that we were embarking on a very exciting trip! You know the excitement you feel going to a new place for the first time? That's what I felt, and we were all excited, we shared a little Haagen Daz to celebrate!

We arrived at 6am as scheduled and took a taxi from the airport. (It was about 40 min). It was rainy and cool (supposedly summer has not yet arrived, and the Kiwis are NOT happy about it!) The people are very nice here, especially with the lilt in their melodic accent! The people seem to be made up of Caucasians (distinctly European vs. American in feel), islanders (Maori/other Polynesian-looking), Indian, and southeast Asian/Chinese. We explored Mission Bay and had breakfast, then went grocery shopping (Eric's first driving experience, which went well!)

Yesterday (Sun) we explored Auckland. We parked the car and walked around for 4-5 hours. We were set to take a ferry to another island/town, but Kiana was ready for a nap, so we'll do that another day. In the evening we hiked to the top of a beautiful park above the ocean and then got a pizza and ate by the beach. Prices are a lot more expensive than we had thought. Eric's Kiwi co-worker said things were one-third cheaper here than San Diego, so we had that expectation. However, that was before the kiwi gained 25%, 25%, and 10% on the dollar over the last 3 years! Prices are on par with San Diego for groceries/restaurants (or higher), and higher for other things, including gas and books. It has been cool and grey in the mornings (like San Diego) with showers on and off the first 2 days (like Honolulu in the rainy season).

Today, Eric 'watched' the Bills via the internet from 7am. Although he was depressed, we headed out for an excursion by car to the rugged west coast (about an hour). The driving was a lot more stressful because we drove on major highways and on winding roads thru the mountains! The roads in general are much narrower here, and the signage as well as the terminology and roads are unfamiliar and not instinctive. However, Eric did great. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to pick up Mom K at the airport (Eric will be in Melbourne when she arrives). I will practice, but seeing Eric stress out makes me worry how well I'll do! Anyway, the good thing is, they drive MUCH slower out here than southern CA. Reminds me of Hawaii. The lanes are much narrower, however, and people don't seem to think it's too important to stay in their lanes! Oh well, we'll see. Anyway, got side-tracked -- On with our day. We drove out to the rugged west coast with beautiful views (like the Oregon Coast and parts of southern CA) and black sand beaches. (This is where the movie The Piano with Holly Hunter and Harvey Keitel). Eric and Kiana did a breathtaking cliff hike while Mari napped in the car (a rarity, but she seems to have caught a cold. I also think she is still trying to catch up from the lack of sleep in New Jersey! She can never miss a moment with her cousins). Then the girls had a blast running in and out of the waves on the black sand beach. Kiana loved covering herself up with the black sand. I am never going to get all of it out of the folds of her swimsuit! We have some great pics but these will have to wait. They do not have broadband here and we also have to pay a per hour charge to AOL. In addition, we don't know if they added a US phone plan (we asked them to) so we won't be calling as often as we'd like. We'll try to check in with someone this coming weekend, but if you have an international calling plan maybe you could call us, and we'll pay you back.

We hope you all had a very happy new year! We completely missed it (being asleep on the plane!) and haven't formally celebrated. We continue everyday to celebrate life and feel very fortunate. We wish you could all be here, too.



-ETM&K