We were scheduled to get on the 5:20pm flight to LA. When we got to the airport we saw that it had been delayed for over an hour. Having four hours between the original LA arrival time and the departure time of the flight to New Zealand, we didn't think too much of it. At the gate however, the agent was thoughtful enough to suggest that we go on standby for the 4:45pm flight in case our original flight was delayed even further. Since we didn't check in any luggage (we had only two carry-ons which made life easier on the trip), we were able to get on the earlier flight and arrived at LA way ahead of schedule. We hung around the airport and had mexican food before getting on our flight to Auckland. The plane was absolutely full. Russ had booked a window seat for me so that I could get a good view of Auckland before landing, which meant he got the seat in the middle (three seats in one row). He ended up elbow-wrestling a bit with the dude sitting next to him and I ended up having to hop on the armrests over both of them whenever mother nature called. Worst of all, we didn't even get to see downtown Auckland because it was on the other side of the plane!

This was the first time we flew since the added airport security, so I was a bit curious and nervous as well. I've read several incidents where travellers were detained due to things they said innocently, things that would never had mattered prior to 9/11. For example, while waiting to use the restroom, a man of Indian-descent casually inquired of a flight attendant on how to use the emergency exit. The flight attendant contacted the FBI and the man was arrested and detained for several hours for questioning. After having gone through the security checkpoint, Russell made a comment about never having seen US guards with assault rifles and I got all paranoid about him mentioning the words "assault rifles" so close to the security check point. Then later in LA while waiting at the gate of our flight to Auckland, I talked about how I've had troubles with USAir and American Airline and Russ echoed "yeah, I hate American too!" My jaw dropped to the floor and I quickly said: "you meant American AIRLINE!". Of course he meant American Airline but you wonder what people around us thought.

The flight to Auckland was long and tiresome, about 13 hours. Russ got a few hours of sleep, I got nil. The total time including layover was about 19 hours. Since New Zealand is ahead by 21 hours, by the time we got to Auckland it was already two days later.

Arrived early in the morning and took about an hour to get through immigration and customs. We saw alot of UK passport holders, I guess alot of them go to New Zealand for vacations. Russ kept saying that I should throw out the snacks that I bought at LA airport because it meant we'd have to go through the "special" checkline for those bringing food into the country. He got me all worried and wondered if I should eat up the cookies and two packs of chocolate bars before exiting the plane. I realized that New Zealand is very strict about what can be brought into the country, but I just couldn't believe that a pack of M&Ms and chewing gum would be unacceptable. Well, it turned out not to be as big of a hassle as Russ had warned me about. We breezed through customs pretty smoothly and met up with Russ's parents outside right after.

My first impression of New Zealand - it looked just like the States! But then I guess all airports look like. :-) Call it silly but I was really looking forward to seeing people driving on the left side of the road! So all these years I haven't been driving on the wrong side of the road, just in the wrong country...

We picked up our rental car before going back to Russ's parents' place. Russ found a pretty good deal at a local rental office (not a national chain), but it was a pretty old and weak car, a Honda Domani. I've never seen one in the States so either it's got a different name or isn't sold there. We were both really tired and had a short nap in the afternoon. Later Russ's sister Raewyn and her fiance Brendan came over and we had dinner. We spent the rest of the night hanging around the house and looking at old family photos.

We had sketched out a rough plan for the two weeks we're spending in New Zealand. We're going to explore places around Auckland until Saturday (Russ's sister's wedding), then head South for a few days. First we had to take care of some red tape at the US embassy. We left in the morning for Auckland. Seeing that it was a weekday we knew we'd have a hard time finding parking. We drove around a bit and parked at a garage a few blocks from the embassy and the shipyard. Big cities tend to look about the same all over the world with subtle differences. I noticed that jaywalking was a very common practice in Auckland; the only other city I know of that has nearly as much pedestrian power is Montreal. The traffic control lights worked differently as well. When the lights are green for cars in any direction, all the pedestrian lights are a no go; the pedestrian lights for all direction change to a go simutaneously and cars in all direction have to come to a stop. So when pedestrian have the right of way, you'll see them crossing in all directions including diagonally across an intersection. That was a strange thing to watch. I've been told that Kiwis are in general very laid-back, so seeing quite alot of aggressive drivers came as a big surprise. I guess that comes with every big city no matter where you are.

The service area of the US embassy was very small as we expected. There were only one other applicant there besides us and the whole process was painless and took less than ten minutes! Having been to US embassies in other countries and witnessed some pretty terrible service conditions, I was in shock and awe. I've heard that in places like India, people would line up at 2AM outside the embassy otherwise they'd never get in. My own experience with US consulate officers and immigration officers have been mostly very negative. They were often rude to me and treated me (and other applicants) as though we're criminals or fence-jumpers. I guess the quality of service really varies by location. The only strange thing that happened was at the security check. Our bags were opened and Russ was asked to take a sip from his bottle of water. At first we thought they were just joking, but later on realized that it was likely a security requirement.

After the embassy we headed toward Viaduct Basin, that's where the syndicates for the boats in the America's Cup 2003 race are. The famous New Zealand boat in the controversial America's Cup 1988, KZ-1, was erected at the entrance. There were many restaurants and visitors along the waterfront, reminded me alot of Boston's. From where we were we could see the Sky Tower which I remember seeing on TV on New Year's Eve 2000 (Auckland was the first big city to celebrate the new Millenium). For lunch we went to a pizza place on the other side of the city where Russ and his friends at the University of Auckland used to frequent. The place looked like a college student hang-out and the vegetarian pizza was delicious! We drove by the university later on but didn't go in.

After lunch we drove up Mt. Eden and got a fabulous view of Auckland and its harbor. By this time it was mid-afternoon and we're thinking of heading home before rush hour hits. Instead we head into Howick to checkout the neighborhood. Howick is a suburb dubbed "Little Chinatown" by some locals due to the number of Chinese residents in the area. My aunt who immigranted to New Zealand a few years ago has a home in Howick. If we were to live in New Zealand and have my parents there as well, it's likely that they'd want to be close to my aunt and a Chinese community. We followed the map and drove around what looked like a big loop in the center of Howick. It was around the time schools were out and there were a lot of youngsters and parents on the streets. We were both very surprised to see that there were almost no Asian faces around. We must have been in a different part of town. We headed back to Russ's parent's home and got stuck in pretty bad traffic for a while. We found out later that traffic congestion had become a big political issue in Auckland's local elections and from what we saw it sure needed the attention!

Today we decided to drive to the west coast with Russ's Dad to explore the beaches. I've been looking forward to experiencing the beautiful beaches, sand dunes and hills that I've seen so many times on Xena (which was filmed in New Zealand). The problem we found was that it's not so hard getting to the west coast, but impossible to drive up and down along the coast. Unlike the California coast where a road runs all the way from North to South, no such road exist on the North Island's west coast. To go from one beach to another we'd have to either walk a few hours or drive back inland and take a different road to the other beach. We picked Bethels Beach to see. The way there was along a narrow country road with few homes but lots of vegetation. We went by a camera crew shooting a movie on that road and for a second I thought: "maybe it's Xena!". Then I remembered that the show has been over for a year. :-( It took about an hour and half to get to Bethels, which was more of a surfer's beach then swimmer's. The waves were pretty big and there weren't many people. The sand contained large amount of iron and looked darker than most beaches. We walked on the beach and climbed on the rocks and sand dunes, enjoyed the tranquility of a nice, isolated beach. I always loved the sound and feel of the ocean and this was one great place to experience it.

We weren't quite sure where to go today around Auckland. Russ's mom mentioned that an aquarium Russ used to go to as a child had been renovated with more interesting things to see. But first, Russ wanted to show me the Auckland Museum next to what's called the Auckland Domain, a place where hundreds of thousands of people gather from time to time for various events/concerts. He and his friends used to bike there and sit on the grass to listen to the concerts. It reminded me of Boston Common and the Esplanade in Boston (home sick!). We spent a good hour or more inside the Museum which showcased rich displays of Maori culture and history, New Zealand native species and plants, war memorial and many others. There were also live Maori cultural performances which I think required an additional fee. There were so many exhibits that we didn't have the energy or time to see them all closely.

After the museum we moseyed down to the Kelly Tarlton's aquarium to pay a visit to the fishies. They had a ride through penguin city and an underwater tunnel surrounded by essentially a huge fish tank. The penquins were moulting so some of them resembled people who just got out of bed and hadn't the chance to brush their hair. The ride was interesting but I liked the underwater tunnel more. They actually put in a moving walkway through the tunnel which was very annoying if you're trying to stay put for a picture. There were sharks, stingray, monster lobsters and others that I couldn't identify. They must feed the sharks very well to keep them from going after the other fish.

Today's Raewyn and Brendan's Big Day! The ceremony took place at an outlook spot in the Arataki Visitor's Centre. Before heading to the ceremony, the bride and bridesmaids came over to Russ's parents home to pick up the flowers and take pictures in the garden. Russ, Russ's mom and I went to the ceremony site in the rental car while Russ's dad, Raewyn and the bridesmaids went in a vintage automobile.

The sky was clear with no sign of rain, which I thought was perfect for a wedding. Unfortunately with New Zealand's harsh UV rays this meant shake & bake for everyone under the sun. I don't think many of the guests had rememberd to put sunblock on. After the ceremony we went down to the bottom of the outlook to take photos. Half way through it I could see that some were showing obvious signs of sun burn. Russ managed to stay under the shade most of the time but still got a bit burned on the back of his neck.

After the ceremony we went to a place called Herald Island Domain for the reception. I met Russ's extended family and munched on snacks and food. I brought my digital camcorder and filmed the speeches, toasts, cake-cutting and dancing. The 4-hr battery came in very handy! The party went into the night but Russ and I left around 9:30pm to get to sleep early. Our alarm clock was set for 6am!

I can't remember the last time we got up this early! It wasn't completely light outside when we started out for the Waitomo Caves. We're spending the week in the southern part of the North Island, making stops at several places. Our first stop is a caving expedition in Waitomo, about a 2.5 hour drive. It's fortunate that we're leaving on a Sunday giving that we're driving through one of the most congested road during the rush hours.

The caving expedition got me thinking: hey, I'm not afraid of height at all! As a matter of fact, I surprised myself by having enjoyed abseiling so much. Hmm, maybe I should try skydiving and see if that scares me. Once that idea was in my head it refused to leave. I told Russ this and he seemed surprised, in a happy way (wow, my girlfriend is cool!). So now skydiving is tentatively on our itinerary. *Woo Hoo!*

We had coffee and granola bars for breakfast and took off for Ruapehu. The sky was not as clear as it had been the past few days which was a bit disappointing. I love driving around rural New Zealand, it's the hills and the sheep I think. The ski resort at Ruapehu was pretty much deserted during this time of the year. We took the chairlift that took us to the highest point mechanically possible (not counting airplanes) and explored the area a bit. There's a building with a viewing platform and snackshop up top. From there it's a roughly 2-hr hike to the crater which I had no intention of making. But as we explored and walked around we found ourselves walking up a track that seemed to lead to the crater. The ground was covered with volcanic ashes from the famous 1995/96 eruption and was very soft and sandy. It was hard not to slip and roll down the mountain.

I'm not big on hiking but I found this climb very exilerating. I think it's the fact that I was able to see everything around me with no trees or other obstacles, and that there was no one else around. Of course later we found that we had taken the wrong turn and ended up on the wrong track, thus unable to get to the crater unless we went back and started over. We considered doing that for a few seconds but decided that we're already enjoying the hike anyway, even if it meant not getting to the crater. Of course the fact that we were running out of water helped in that decision. Russ is much more of a hiker than I am so he basically let me decide how far we'd go. I found that the best way for me to enjoy a hike without the pressure of completing a long distance is to set small goals as we moved along until the last small goal was the actual goal to start with. We walked for about 2hrs upward (about 1,000ft), which felt much longer because of the difficult climb. There's snow around us but I was wearing just the T-shirt and still felt warm. We reached to the spot that we've set for ourselves as the turnaround point and rested awhile. It was a great feeling looking around us and down the slope that we just climbed. The clouds had started to come in while we're climbing so the view wasn't as good as it could've been. On the other hand, it did keep the harsh sun hidden most of the time. After the rest we headed back down. It was much, much faster going down. I basically "rode" the sand most of the way while Russ ran off without me. The big downside was that my shoes were filled with sand and stones.

Got off to a windy start. It looked like mother nature was continuing its streak of pooping on our skydiving plans. We decided to check out this place where we could do some car racing. It turned out to be pretty lame as you can see from the photo below. I had hoped for a much bigger race track. Afterwards we headed to a skydiving place in Rotorua to try Tandem Skydiving. While the office dog licked the sunblock off my leg the woman behind the desk told us that they weren't jumping today due to the winds. We could stick around for the next day but neither of us wanted to stay in Rotorua longer than we had to, so we started out for Russ's parents' beach house in Onemana.

Today we're going to explore the Colomandel Peninsula where Onemana is located. We've got a couple of places in mind. The first stop is Hot Water Beach. The beach got its name courtesy of the thermal waters below its surface. At low tide you can dig a big hole on the beach, have it filled up with the thermal water and viola! you've got yourself an all natural hot spa. The trick is that you've got a window of only about 2hrs before and after low tide to enjoy it. We got there around 11am and was shocked by the number of tourists on the beach. There were tour buses on the small parking lot and barely any spot was available. I had wanted to change into swimsuits and do the whole spa experience but it was just too crowded. Russ was really surprised. The last time he came here with friends the place was empty. We did enjoy soaking our feet in the hot water in a pool dug by someone before us. Some of the pools had water so hot they were bubbling! The tide came in rather quickly so we got ourselves some ice cream cones and left for our next stop.

Close to Hot Water Beach is another place called Cathedral Cove that's only accessible during low tide (during high tide the cove is covered by water). To get to the cove we walked along a track about 1.5 mile through bushes and trees and hundreds of stair steps. The Cove was nice, but I was more fond of the big rock next to it. It was just begging to be climbed and abseiled.

For dinner we went to Whitianga, took a ferry across the harbour and ate at a small joint in Ferry Landing. The Ferry Landing is another small town with little shops catering to tourists. I looked for some souvenirs but didn't find anything too interesting. It didn't seem like quite the tourist season yet, not all that many people around.

Another rainy day. Mother nature hasn't been all that friendly on our second week here. Russ and I decided to head back to Russ's parents' home near Auckland. We didn't leave till after 5pm (spent the day hanging around in the house). On the way we saw huge traffic going in the opposite direction toward Colomandel; must've been the weekend crowds running out of Auckland. Pretty uneventful evening. The kitty miaoed his tail off when he saw us coming in and wouldn't leave us alone during dinner.

A really nice day, still a bit windy. Russ called a number of skydiving places nearby and all said that they weren't sure if they'll jump. We lounged around in the living room, enjoyed the breeze, read books, magazines and had a really lazy day. Well, at least we did the laundry so it wasn't too bad. I played with the cat who was unusually friendly and craved attention. I then watched the Winter Olympics open ceremony in the afternoon and cheered the various national groups as they marched into the stadium. It's especially moving to see countries that had really struggled in the recent years to gain independence and social stability to finally be represented. Taiwan was represented as "Chinese Taipei" instead of "Taiwan" or "Republic of China", obviously to curtail the wrath of Communist China. However, I noticed that while all the countries were presented in the order of their names (in alphabetical order), "Chinese Taipei" was place in the group of countries starting with "T" rather than "C", nice little jab er? *Hee Hee Hee Hee*

Did a bit of last minute shopping at a nearby crafts store. We had lunch at an Indian fastfood in a Mall and it was delicious! It hadn't been easy finding vegetarian food in this nation known for its seafood. I looked all over the place for a hat that had a New Zealand Cricket logo. Ironically the Mall had no shortage of products with NCAA and Major League Baseball team logos but had nothing on the New Zealand Cricket team. Now if that's not a statement of the penetration of the US culture into New Zealand I don't know what is. Later we went to see Adam, a college friend of Russ, and his wife who also came from Taiwan. In the evening we gathered at Raewyn and Brendan's home with Russ's parents, Brendan's parents and brother for a barbecue. Raewyn and Brendan had just returned from Taupo after a stop at Onemana and found their bedroom filled with 400 balloons! A joke on the newly wed from their friends. We all help to move the balloons to a different room so they could at least sleep in their bed. Hmm, I never did ask how they eventually got rid of the balloons.

Last day here. We did a little more shopping in the morning before returning the rental car and headed for the airport. There wasn't any long line so we had alot of time to kill before the plane took off. We went through two security checkpoints: one to enter the departure area which all passengers went through, then a second and more thorough one right at the gate for our flight to LA. My guess is that the second checkpoint is the additional security added after 9/11.

So that was our short two-week trip to New Zealand. I wish we had more time to spend there. Next time we'll likely pay a visit to the South Island. Before wrapping this up, here are a few terms I learned in New Zealand: