I have arrived in NZ!
But in a confused state - I showed up at Melb airport for my flight on the 5th of March, a full day early. D’oh!
But the flight was fine (once I came on the right day), and I’ve checked in at the hostel (interned is $6/hr, so I opted out, went for a walk, and found a place for $2/hr. HA!).
I’ve been walking for a while now, and it’s pretty good. I went to Western park and found some really cool new trees, and some trees had small one-leaf plants growing on them.
Auckland, at first take, is very similar to Melbourne - shop fronts and milk bars (or dairies, as they call em here). Differences that have jumped out at me so far: the cross walks don’t tap, but they have strange behaviour. If you walk up to a crosswalk, the light saying not to walk or to walk is off. Only when you push the cross button does it light up. Energy conservation, I guess? Also, Auckland is much more hilly! REALLY HILLY!
I’ve found the fresh food market, so many good fruit and veggies will be consumed. Food prices are a bit more expesive (1.5x more), but nothing to fret about.
But so far, I feel pretty lonely. I left important people in Melbourne, and no one is here to show me around, like Ariel so kindly did. Hrm, and it feels kind of empty right now. Granted, it is the first day, so it’ll take some time to meet folks. But I’m only planning on staying in Auckland for a week at most, before meandering around the rest of the north island, so friendships will be brief, I think.