Auckland - City of Sails Day 1

I was waiting for when I could get hold of my camera but lo and behold, it'll be another week before that happens and it'll be too late to make this blog by then so what the hell. :)

So here's finally my blog about my adventures in New Zealand. This'll be a several-part blog, designed to divide my activities in Auckland and Palmerston. :)

So. AUCKLAND.

Arrival

Arrived at the Auckland International Airport at around 12-something pm. Immigration went smoothly which was great luck. Heard of stories otherwise. Went out of the gate expecting boyfie, Elbert, and his friends greet me only to find myself surrounded by huge white people. Knowing you're going to a white country and then totally seeing it for yourself is totally different.


Anyway, since it was a pain looking for them in the huge lounge, I went straight for topping up (kiwi way of saying "prepaid reload") my NZ sim so I can contact boyfie. I had to take my coat off coz it was getting cozy and I said to myself that if it was as cold here in the airport as it was outside, then people have been exaggerating about the cold. I had to take my words back though.

What happened was, we had a bit of a misunderstanding with the directions to where boyfie and I would meet so I ended up looking for him outside the airport and him for me inside. As soon as I went out the door and into Kiwi air, the wind hit me like an ice sheet. It was extremely cold for just a thin sweater so I had to put on my winter coat and still I was freezing. Or at least my hands were. I had to tough it up and well, after several shivering moments, we saw each other.

Meeting Boyfie Again

It was surreal. It's been months since I last saw him so it was a little overwhelming. I saw him almost the same time he saw me. He ran over to me with a great big smile and hugged me so tight I could hardly breathe! It was awesome. :D All those tears shed months ago now gone, replaced with unbelievable happiness. It was bittersweet because I had to leave my family but hey, better with him around to keep me company than without. :D After a few more hugs, I finally got to greet his (and now my) friends, Christian and Jep. A few pictures and we were off to wherever they saw fit to take me. :D

Roadtrip...getting lost.

We had plenty of time and yet so little so they decided we go straight to Northshore and tour around there since its near Demi and Caj's house where I'll be staying that night. Had lunch at this delicious fancy Pinoy restaurant, and of course, it was free (for me at least. haha). Very generous boyfie. :D We had soup, kawali, fried chicken, fish, and delicious flan with vanilla ice cream for dessert. It was superb. I met Ivan there, who was another friend of their's (and now mine, too). :D

Then they took me to Davenport. First to the portside then to the mountain. Which one's colder you ask? Both! :D They are both equally frightfully cold. ;p Had to wear my winter jacket to keep me heated. It was a great view though. In the port, you could see sails all around the sea. And at the mountain, you could see the entirety of Auckland. Photos absolutely do NOT do the place justice. It was breathtaking!

Then we went to walk around Westfield Glenfield Mall. Malls here close at around 5 or 6pm, by the way, which completely took me by surprise (back home, they close at around 9-10pm). Windowshopped for a few when suddenly, they spotted an iphone5 right off the counter of Vodaphone. Scanned the other celshops for iphone5's and finally settled for Telecomm's deal. It was incredible! The boys, like, decided to buy the thing right off the bat! Just like that. Amazing. :D

A few minutes later, and with great big smiles holding their iphone5s in their hands, we rode Christian's car bound for Northshore. Or at least we thought. It wasn't until we were 11 km along a long road when they noticed we were probably heading the wrong direction. Our destination wasn't supposed to be far. In fact, it was only minutes away. Of course, I knew nothing as I've never been there before. Inputted the directions again to the GPS and still it gave the wrong directions. Boyfie tweaked the inputs a bit and voila, we finally knew where we were supposed to go. Only, we had to go forward another 7km and round another 18km back to Glenfield. Yeah. We were lost. 36km worth of lost but it was fine. It was quite fun for a first day, actually. :D

But if you think that's over, well, when we finally arrived at the house, nobody was there which was weird coz I asked and Caj said she was home. A few minutes of standing in the cold with all my luggage and we finally realized that we had the wrong address. Hahaha Lost again! What a first day, eh? :D

Finally arrived at the house, chikka with Caj, later joined by Demi, until the wee hours and finally, a well deserved sleep.

It was a satisfying first day. It was exciting and my welcome party was more than great! :) I couldn't have asked for better friends or a better boyfriend. :)

xoxo

-hny-