Day 3: Stop. Drop. Kaboom Baby
Touchdown in Auckland at 5:20AM.
Maori Arch
My first sight of New Zealand was a Mauri welcoming... arch. The woman I had been talking to on the flight explained it to me but I cannot recall at this point. I think I was too focused on making sure I had everything for customs.
Next sight was aisles and aisles of alcohol with pretty ladies trying to sell you on the duty-freeness of the opportunity. Once again, I was a bit too focused on customs to be in the right mind to explore the options.
Finally got to the customs line. I worried for nothing. Getting through customs was far, far easier than I thought it would be. I got asked about half a dozen times what I had in the computer monitor case and was informed that Air NZ was not responsible for any damage to the monitor. I suppose they gotta cover their bases.
Finally, finally, I boarded my last 45min puddlejumper to Wellington and got picked up promptly at 8:30AM by cousin Cary.
It's on.
Well actually, it was overcast and I was incredibly tired... I still marveled at the misty view from our house at the tippity-top of Mt Victoria before unpacking and checking out my room for the first time. The room is pretty tiny but similar to a Prospect-sized room so I can't complain.
Not much time to unwind because Cary had a meet that day. Sadly they didn't accept last-minute entrants for the 3k but I did a nice 6miler easy RE (Mitch code) and actually shivered a bit while I watched Cary run an 8:46. He did the noble deed of making sure the pace was honest after a crawling 35s for the first 200m. He of course paid for the move at the end but still ran well considering he told me he slept very little the previous night (I'm guessing nervous thoughts on my behalf... ah, thanks mate).
Forget what we had for dinner but we made the executive decision to stay in for the night. As an example of my jet lag, we turned on Blood Diamond and I fell asleep within 30min (yes that's about the point in the movie all the raiding is going on...)
Goodnight
Day 2: Shortest Day Of the Year
Today was November 27th, 2009. It was 4 hours long. I slept through all of it.
Day 1: A Sleepwalker’s Tale
The day leading up to departure was interesting. A little nostalgic. A little exciting. A lotta turkey... My brothers and I stayed up all night doing the strangest assortment of activities. this included:
Tired Brothers
- Playing various games.
- Talking about god and religion (first even semi-interesting conversation I've had on that topic in 4 years... Well maybe that's unfair, but first time I felt like I got a new perspective on things, felt my paradigm shift a little)
- Watching far too many "Sounds" clips from Who's Line Is It Anyways.
- Around 5AM I finally boxed up my desktop and monitor for the trip. Then packed away my clothes and whatnot around that gear. It actually made for a fairly good padding situation.
Anyways, grabbed some coffee cake, hugged the parents, and jumped in the Rav4. Slept 30min with my mouth wide open and head tilted back on the way to the airport. Weighed my bags and got shocked with the revalation of the expense of bringing your life with you on a trip. I get 2 50 lb bags and a carry-on. I suppose most can do with 120lbs but I had a desktop computer and monitor and speakers. Fortunately, I could even everything out to 47.5 49.5 and 50.0 lb bags. Woo! So I only had to pay $200 for a third bag. Could have been a lot worse... I'm also officially taking 162lbs of gear with me on my trip, exactly my body weight. Coincidence?... Yeah.
Hopped on the flight and slept soundly for the hour to Chicago. Then on to LA with a good 2 episodes of House (I'm giving it a chance, and 6 episodes in on the trans-pacific flight while I'm typing this, I gotta say... I really really like the theme music). I Also slept 2 hours on the flight to LA and had an aisle seat so unfotunately missed viewing the rockies. Landed in LA and got pleasantly blasted with heat. Damn, I have to find a way to live in SoCal. In LAX I made my last phone calls and txts for 5 months (I wonder if I'll miss the phone... We'll come back to that later) I saw a Wolfgang Puck, remembered hearing high praises about the place and dropped a pretty penny for a caesar salad. Terrific decision. Surprisingly filling too... Anyways, I tricked security into letting me get on an international flight and now here I am in a 747 jumbo jet (not tufts).
747 Jumbo Jet
This plane is awesome and Air NZ service is the best I've experienced. I've already met a few interesting natives and as I look on the monitor at this crazy image of my plane in the middle of the pacific, the excitement is building (which sucks because I should be sleeping...) Ah well, gotta trust my body knows what's up. Maybe I should have tried a sleeping pill.
Well that's enough rambling for one entry. Let's see... passed 29 minutes. 1 to go, lets see how much I can write in that time. because at the end of this minute I w
The Author
I'm a runner who's managed to escape the NE winter for a NZ summer. This is a chronicle of my travels.
Cheers!
Cell: +64.021.123.1347
Archives
Calendar
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| « Apr | ||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | ||
Recent Albums
Recent Posts
- Its Over
- The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
- Kiwi Nationals Day 3
- Kiwi Nationals Day 2
- Kiwi Nationals Day 1
Recent Comments
- Jared Konkle on The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
- Dad on The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
- Macklin on Kiwi Nationals Day 3
- Joey on Kiwi Nationals Day 3
- Jared Konkle on Kiwi Nationals Day 3