The First 2 Days with my Parents

Right now it's 8:00am on Tuesday, November 4. My parents have been here for just about 72 hours. It has been an action packed 3 days, full of excitement, but rather weird to have them here as well. Their plane landed just about on time on Saturday at 6:00am at the Auckland International Terminal. I got there just after 6 thinking they would come quite quickly through customer. Traveling on a US Passport in most countries is quite easy so I figured they wouldn't be that long. Around about 6:30 people started coming through from the San Francisco flight so I figured they wouldn't be far behind. Unfortunately it took them quite a while, they were caught bringing illegal items into the country (an apple) and were hit with a NZ$400 fine. This held them up for a bit and thus they didn't make it out until about 7:30am. Thank god I was waiting there with a fabulous sign for them. 

There's a photo but it's quite blurry. The sign says “Who’s Excited to see Rob & Cindy?” and below is a hole for my head and the words “This Chick” with arrows pointing in towards my face. It was fabulous!

Anyways, they were the only people in the airport who had a person waiting for them with a sign. Fabulous, isn’t it?! I really hope they appreciated it!

After picking them up at the airport I took my parents to Cereal Killa, my favorite breakfast spot in Auckland, where Elizabeth and I go about 1-4 times/week and eat the delicious coconut porridge. Upon arrival I gave my parents an introductory course in NZ coffee. The coffees here are much smaller than American coffees. Maybe 8 oz. at the largest. They are also very particular about their coffee here. People can make quite a fuss if it’s not just as they like it. My parents decided to have Flat Whites, I usually drink a Cappuccino. We then had 2 orders of the coconut porridge and an order of the creamy mushrooms, and it was all delicious!

(Okay, it has taken my like 2 days to write this much of the post so far. I keep getting interrupted or busy or something so I just have to go through the last few days a bit faster so I can at least get caught up to today. Sorry it won’t be heavy on the detail but I just don’t have time right now….)

Okay, so after porridge we swung by my flat and packed up a few of my things and then went up Mt. Eden, the tallest volcano in the city where you can see all of the Auckland area, out into the Hauraki Gulf, and beyond. It was really cool to show my parents this, and to see this again myself now that I really know the city. I could see so many places I recognized.

After Mt. Eden we went for a drive east out of the CBD and down the bays just east of downtown. We drove through Mission Bay, Kohi Bay, and St. Helier’s Bay, stopping at the viewpoint at the end that looks out over Rangitoto Volcano and the Hauraki Gulf. I’ve driven this way many times but never been out at the viewpoint at the end so that was nice. And it was a nice sunny day so a good time to look around the Bay.

We next went to check-in to our hotel, the Sky City Grand Hotel. We were able to get a Friends and Family discount from one of my friends and how happy we were that we did. What a wonderful hotel! Great location, great employees, great room. All in all, very happy. We had a small snack at the federal delicatessen followed by a quick nap in the hotel and then down to Ortolana for dinner. And luckily, my parents loved the meal! We had a prefect table outside, enjoying the fabulous weather, and under a heater with blankets. We had a huge meal with lots of the tastiest dished and it was all just great. Then off to the Lorde concert to finish off their first day here in NZ. Action packed, and just wait, this has continued each day. For a review on the concert, Lorde was fine. It was great to see her in her hometown, which she was obviously enjoying, but her songs all sound the same and I don’t know many of the lyrics so it wasn’t the best concert ever. Plus she doesn’t put on a great “show” – no backup dancers, no choreography, not much for a lights show. I’m glad we went but I wouldn’t see her again until she had done a few more tours and released a few more albums with more hits and more variety.

Okay, now onto Sunday. We spent most of the day on Sunday with Ana, my Peruvian friend. She met up for breakfast at the fed (we loved this place) and ended up spending the whole day together. We walked down to the water after breakfast where we stumbled upon a boat, the Sam Simon, part of Sea Shepard, and took a free tour. The boat is used to actively combat whaling in the Antarctic. They use their boats to get in the way of the Japanese who are whaling asnd try to make it so difficult for them to kill and harvest whale meat that they don't do it. Read a bit on the website, it's absolutely fascinating. The boat was purchased with money donated by Sam Simon, one of the creators of The Simpsons, and thus named after him. The boat is involved in anti-whaling campaigns each year in the seas around the Antarctic. It was just so interesting to talk to the crew and see people actually doing something about the animal cruelty, instead of just saying they don't agree but not doing anything to stop it. We were all very happy that we had stumbled upon this. 

After the boat tour we bought a few souveniers and then walked down to the viaduct where we had a snack and then headed back towards home. I did a bit of shopping, as I haven't really bought any news clothes at all since I arrived in Auckland 7 months ago, and many of the few clothes that I own/wear are things I brought from America last year still. Another nap/rest time in the hotel and then we were off to grab the last few items at my flat and for a nice dinner at Petra Shawarma, a Top 10 Cheap Eats and outstanding Jordanian restaurant in the Kingsland neighborhood of Auckland. After dinner it was hack to the hotel and to sleep in prep for our big drive on Monday. 

Now for Monday, this day was full of driving, for me of course, but we saw some amazing things. We left Auckland quite early in the day, we were out of the hotel and on the road before 9 am, and heading up the West coast of the Northland towards the world's largest living Kauri trees. Kauri trees are bigger than Sequoias or Redwoods, they are the biggest trees in the worlds. Unfortunately, there aren't many left in NZ because the white settlers pretty much cut them all down for wood years ago. There are a few places in NZ that still have Kauri trees, one of them being the Waipoua Forest in the northland. 

Okay, that's all for tonight. I'll write more tomorrow about Monday and Tuesday and of course tomorrow (Wednesday) as well.