Soooo different...

Kia ora everyone!

That's a general greeting used here a lot. It pretty much means everything from 'welcome' to 'thank you' to 'hello'. Just some random info for you.

So my first few days have gone pretty well. It's pretty much a give in that things would be different from home, but it's pretty crazy. First off there's the obvious wrong side of the road nonsense. I mean, you don't realise how instinctive it is to look left when starting to cross a street until you almost get hit... Don't worry mom, I'm ok! But I'm sticking to crosswalks for now... The other big thing is the price of everything! I was really stoked about the exchange rate until I discovered that everything is 25% more, if not double here. A 2 litre of milk is almost $5! Insane. I'm going to have to find something other than cereal to eat for breakfast or I'm going to go broke. Have any of you ever seen a fast food value meal over $10? I have. And all of you complaining about gas being $1.10 or whatever it is there now, be glad you don't live here and have to pay $1.64/litre! Ouch. Oh and Mike, Fanta is just as common as Coke or Sprite down here!

Auckland is actually pretty similar to Vancouver. I felt pretty at home walking around the streets downtown. Smaller than Van though. One thing that is really neat is at big/main intersections they have a pedestrian turn at the stoplights. So all at once, all four directions go, and a mass of people just swarm the intersection. It's a pretty weird sight to see. You gotta really hope that no one tries to run a red light right before a pedestrian turn... The transit system is really good, with a free bus that runs around the main points in downtown for free, every ten minutes. I've taken advantage of that one a few times! They also have electronic signs at big stops telling you how long until the next bus comes, and what number it is. Pretty handy!

I've done quite a bit since I've been here. I have crossed the harbour and hiked up some small hills that had old battlements on the top that were built for the world wars to protect the harbour. One of them had a huge cannon, called a disappearing gun, on top that could fire a 210 pound shot over 5 miles! They only shot it once as a test, and it shattered all the windows of the surrounding houses, so they didn't test it again... Nice. Another site about 20 minutes away had a whole network of tunnels built into the hillside to house men to arm the guns. A bunch of them were open for exploring and I had a great time! I couldn't imagine living in those smelly holes though.

I went out the the Underwater World, and saw a whole bunch of neat stuff. Penguins! They had a kind of tram ride thing that took you into their enclosure and you could see them above and below the water. I loved it of course, it was penguins! They also had a underwater walkway where the roof was clear and you had tons of fish, sharks and manta rays swimming above you. Pretty cool.

I went to the art gallery where they had a real Picasso! I also went to the Auckland museum where they had a whole bunch of exhibits on the native Maori people, native plants and animals, and a whole floor dedicated to NZ wars and their involvement in the world wars. They had two restored planes in there, that were actually used during the war. A Zero and a Spitfire. Pretty neat stuff. Although I got caught in a full out lightening and thundershower while walking to the museum, so it could have been better. It was a good test of my stuff though! My shoes and backpack did great, and the jacket did pretty good too, but my pants were soaked when I got there. Haha.

Yesterday was really cool. I took a ferry out to Rangitoto Island (pronounced Rang-ee-toetoe) which is actually an extinct volcano, that is only 600 years old. I hiked up to the summit in an hour, and the views of Auckland and the surrounding areas were amazing. It was pretty neat to be walking along a path made of old lava. This volcano came up right next to another island, Motutapu, which is the complete opposite. It looked like a page out of one of mom and dad's Ireland books. All rolling fields of grasslands and even some cliffs.

Today I bussed my way out of Auckland, and up north to Whagarei (Fang-ga-ray), where I hope to do a side trip to do some diving at the Poor Knights Islands. They're supposed to be one of the top 10 sites in the world to dive because of the mix of tropical and coastal currents. I should be here until Saturday, then I plan to head up to the Bay of Islands for some fun in the sun. Hopefully it will be sunny - it's been regular BC weather out here so far!

Still no pictures, haven't quite figured out how to work that out yet. I have lots to show everyone though! I'll get them up as soon as I can. But internet is expensive here, hopefully it will be cheaper up in Paihia (Pie-hee-ah) and then I can try to figure it out.

I can't get logged in to the site where I change my map, so it still says Auckland, but I'm a little bit north of there right now. I probably won't be back online until next week. I miss you all alot, wish you could be here with me! Leave me lots of notes about home... I haven't seen a tv to even see news since I left.

Take care!