Just a quick photo update to satisfy all of you, haha. I'll write all about life on a New Zealand ranch in the next post!

Click a photo to see a larger version.







(Right) Sky Tower

(Below) Queen Street, Downtown Auckland
















First glimpse of NZ land before arriving in Auckland Airport --->


















(Above)Panoramic Sunset on ranch











Clock Tower in Auckland Town Square --->















Interesting glass paneled building ---->

























(Above) Sky Tower street scene

(Right) More city stuff

(Below) Window view from hostel bed

A couple more days, but its felt like a week. I've walked miles... er kilometers upon kilometers, met dozens of people, and spent hours conversing with them. It's amazing how open everyone is when they hear your accent. I'm so glad I've chose to come by myself, I think it really makes you more approachable and at the same time forces you to speak up and be proactive.

Some random stuff I've picked up on:

Everything is really clean, the pavement and city streets (no gum stains, or trash), the air (there's always a coastal breeze with bays on both sides of the city), even the hostel is as clean as most hotels I've been to.

Nobody talks on cell phones as they walk the street or are in their cars. After talking with people over email they usually ask you to text them rather than call. It could be somewhat due to their cell phone plans. Vodafone is really big over here, they're as common as starbucks. Their prepay phones are really popular, in fact I picked one up myself. The plans they have are different than what we have. Instead of getting say 600 minutes free for $40, you only get 40 minutes free. But, instead of being fined like crazy for going over, you're charge a set rate, 50 cents per minute. Then on top of that, incoming calls don't consume your minutes or cost you anything. If I receive a call, I can sit on the phone for the next 8 hours without spending a penny.

Very few places offer the customer service we're used to. Rather than glazing everything over with fake smiles and forced sincerity, they're really honest. I think it may go hand in hand with the fact that tips aren't expected and are instead something given for extremely great service. I went to this burger place last night and they asked if I wanted their chili sauce on the burger. I said, "Umm, no, but can I have it on the side?", and she simply responded "No". I just started laughing, "ok, no problem". Surely, in America you can have it anyway you want. Hell, I could ask them to spread the sauce on my ass and they'd stop and consider it. But don't get me wrong, by no means are they jerks. It's nice to know that you're talking to real people and getting strait answers rather than fluff.

I still can't get used to drivers on the left side of the road. I'm in a group of people going across the street and I turn to my left looking for traffic. I turn back to see I'm the only idiot facing that way and the other 15 people are all looking to the right, hehe. At least once a day I've also found myself looking into a car driving down the street thinking "OMG, who's driving?!" when I see the empty passenger seat where we have our driver seats.

Already, I've got a whole new outlook on our affect on the environment. You open the newspapers here and you don't read about murders, rapes and fires but instead an honest concern for our impact on the earth. When you go to fast food places they don't give you disposable plates and cups or a sandwich wrapped in a bag, in a bag, in a bag, but instead real dishes that you return when you're done. It's out of concern for creating more waste and at the same time they trust that people won't run off with dishware that's worth 10x the cost of the food on it.

In the hostel they have a game room with arcade games, big tv room with couches and bean bags all over, and a chill room with a huge library of books. But, the most popular area is the kitchen and dining area. I made friends with a bunch of people as we prepared meals in the industrial style kitchen. It's not uncommon to cook food and end up sitting around in the dining area talking until its time for the next meal. I met a surfer from Japan, Hiroo, ( pronounced Hero) that was really jealous of my California accent and thought it was awesome that I could use chopsticks. A guy from Austria that tried hitting on this girl at the market with his bad english. He confused the poor girl asking her "How can I get you?", rather than "How can I reach you?" when asking for her number. Over some beers last night a guy from Mexico told us stories of October Fest in Germany, a Canadian explained the beer purity law, and we laughed about the various age of concent laws around the world. Apparently it's 16 here, and as low as 14 in some providences of Canada.

I've contacted a bunch of people through couch-surfing and help exchange, the two websites I mentioned earlier. In fact, I'm getting a ride to Kumeu in a couple hours to help Neil and John on their ranch. You can read more about them and others experiences here . I'm not sure how long I'll stay, it could be a week or perhaps a month. I also got a reply from a family just a bit north of Auckland. They've invited me to sand dune surfing and their 40th annual hog hunt this saturday so I'll see if I can make that, it sounds too exciting to pass up!

Of course there's some stuff I've missed, but I'm almost out of time here at this internet cafe. Will post again soon, later!

Oh yea, I'm going to get a CF card reader RIGHT NOW... seriously

Day 1 - Auckland, New Zealand

It's unreal to imgine that I've leaped forward 20 hours, 2 seasons, and a distance of around 9,000km in just under a night. But, here I am typing away next to the wide open window of my 3rd story hostel room in downtown Auckland. Compact, oddly shaped economic cars whir by over the chatter of Kiwi's (New Zealander's) on the sidewalk, who are happy the weather has dried up and is no longer "weet" (wet).

At around 5:30pm I boarded my flight. I was sitting there thinking about how they decide where to seat the many varying personalities of the international flights. Was it random, or did they try making what they thought would be good matches, considering some of the information we gave beforehand when checking in. A few moments later, Kasper, as I later found out his name was, was seated next to me. We got along really well, and over the next 8 hours + 2 hour lay-over in Tahiti + 7 more hours until Auckland, and a few games of virtual chess, we talked about a little of everything. Kasper, originally from Holland and now fluent in 4 languages, has been traveling around the world since 2004. He's all about paying for only what he has to and has gone far because of it. He's a co-developer of a website, http://www.couchsurfing.com/. With over 200,000 members across the world, couch surfers is about people helping others to see the world by offering a place to stay for 2 nights to 2 weeks at no cost. Over the last year, he has used nothing but this service, meeting hundreds of people, and seeing Africa, India, Australia, South America, Europe, and most of the US without paying for a place to stay, once.

So we arrived in Auckland around 6:00am Friday, losing Thursday completely to the time lapse. After a 2 hour journey through immigration, we walked out the doors of the Auckland International Airport and were in search of a means to get into the city (21km from the airport). It seemed the cheapest option was the air shuttle at $10 NZ... it seemed. "That's bullsheet!", claimed Kasper. While I thought it was a pretty good deal for what would be an hour drive in traffic; he thought it was outrageous. He was sure we could hitch-hike there faster and free. Sure enough, the first person we asked was headed to the city and was happy to give us a lift. We toss our bags in the trunk of her Civic and we were off.

Sadly, I forget her name, but she was a married woman in her early 30's. A Fijian, but born and raised in the UK before moving to NZ 8 years ago. Her and her husband own 3 businesses in the city but she claimed not to work very hard, planning to head to the gym and taking the rest of the day off after dropping us off in Auckland. She said she hitch-hiked a lot when she was our age traveling around Europe and was happy to pay back the favor. She was pretty hilarious, no matter what it was she was talking about. I think the accent had something to do with it. Calling one guy that cut her off a "Tucker", and telling us that we'd have our choice of girls in NZ with the girl to guy ratios way off, claiming it was 4 girls for every 1 guy. A lie obviously, but both Kasper and I couldn't help to notice the odd case that just about every guy was with a disproportionally hot girl. Like seriously, some of these girls were pretty attractive then you look to their male counter-part and you're like... really?!

Anyways this is longer than I had planned on and I want to get back out before the sun sets. Long story short, we found the hostel, walked the city for a couple hours where we purchased AC outlet adapters, a couple sandwiches, and led what seemed to be an endless search for a free wireless connection. Kasper left a few hours ago to meet his latest Couch Surfing host across the bay and I took a much needed nap. Strangely, I'm still the only one in this hostel room at 7pm. Kind of a shame to not have the opportunity to meet some roomates, but I can't really complain about a private room for $16 NZ a night.

And so, from a hunched over position where my laptop atop a dresser is just barely able to gain a signal, I'll end this post before I push my free internet luck too far. But, "DLINK Unsecured Wireless Connection", whoever you are, just know that I love you.

P.S. - Sorry for the lack of pictures. I forgot to bring my CF Card Reader but will post them very soon.

Wow, I had planned to update earlier than this. Anyways, today is the day I begin the journey. It's only a matter of hours now until my plane departs. In the next few hours I will be saying my last few good-bye's and catching a ride to LAX International Airport.

It was difficult deciding what to bring and what to leave behind, knowing that every ounce would be on my back for so much of my travels. Packed in my single over-sized backpack (thanks Kevin) are 4 changes of clothes, 2 swimsuits, 1 jacket, 1 pair of sandals, 1 pair of running shoes, a 2 person tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, camera with a second battery, laptop, ipod, and headphones. Then of course there is my passport, visa, and copies of important documents.

Short post, I know, but I'm sure I'll have much more to say after landing. The next posting will be live from Aukland! haha... Until then, thanks for checking this out. Later!

So the initial destination has changed, but the momentum is still strong. After receiving my passport in the mail I proceeded with researching the various Australian Visa's available. In order to legally work in Australia as a non-citizen, you must obtain a WHV (Working Holiday Visa). The United States, as luck would have it, is one of the very few countries where an Australian WHV is not available for its citizens. The US doesn't allow Australians to participate in our WHV system and so the Australians have basically returned the favor. What this means is that as a US citizen, the only work available in Australia would be under the table. Furthermore, I would risk being deported if caught working illegally. In order to keep things as simple as possible; at least when starting out; I want to make sure I can work worry free and keep myself open to all employment opportunities. So, Australia will no longer be the first destination.

New Zealand was the next country I planned on visiting so I have simply switched where I will be starting off. Fortunately, they're more welcoming to US immigration. After filling out a simple WHV form online I was approved just 24 hours later. This WHV will allow me to live and work in New Zealand for 12 months from the date in which I enter the country so long as I abide by a few regulations.

1. You may not stay with any one employer for more than 3 months.
2. You must have full medical insurance coverage during your stay.
3. You must have NZ $4,200 (about US $3,000) available to you to support your cost of living.

My plane will be departing LAX on October 25, 2006. After a short lay-over in Tahiti I'll be starting out in Aukland, the largest city in New Zealand. (Northern most city pictured right) While not the capital, it is in all other ways known as the heart of the country.

So with 11 days left until my departure I'm really beginning to feel that anticipation. Heck, I'm wide awake at 3:30am writing this! I still have much to do in preparation. I need to purchase a sleeping bag, 2 person (*wink*) tent, ebay a couple more items of value and still sell my car. Regardless, my goal is to be completely packed and ready by the 23rd.

Now, off to sleep before I continue. Until later, thanks for stopping by!