Auckland - City of Stress and Good Company

So Auckland has so far had a lot of up and downs. Finding a car, buying a car, and then fixing up said car has proven to be extremely stressful. Our hosts however have proven to be super fun to hang out with and the beaches are quite beautiful here. I have been meaning for some time to finish up a post about Rarotonga but the hunt for the vehicle has taken up most of the time that I have been spending on the computer as I am trying not to spend too much time here. But eventually it will be up.

As for some NZ things that we have found to be interesting/thrilling/worth noting:

- Seeing sheep in the middle of the city - priceless
- Ketchup tastes much better here, but is called Tomato Sauce
- Food tastes like food, so much flavour even in food that isn't organic (the only food with flavour back home almost)
- They've integrated bike shops and coffee shops into one (Drew will blog and post pictures shortly, or sometime, maybe)
- The wind is so inconsistent that you can not fly a kite
- One Tree Hill is neat, even though there is no tree anymore (Clayton and Meg you will want to go here)
- They animate the walk sign in the downtown core, probably to thrill the tourists. Consider us thrilled.
- People are quite helpful and friendly
- Auction buying is exciting, but can also backfire when the repairs to the car are almost as much as the car
- Food prices are not as astronomically high as we were led to believe, especially in comparison to Rarotonga

There are many more things I am sure, but that is a short list until we can find the time to do some writing. Our hosts here are really kind though and are open to us staying for as long as we want, but we will most likely be hitting the road on Monday. The plan so far is to head up North to the tip and then start making our journey South. Being in Auckland took a little bit longer than we had anticipated but having people to sit and chat with each night and have a few drinks has been wonderful and a great introduction to the social life we can expect here (hopefully).