Fortunately my backpack decided to show up the day after I arrived, but it really put a kink in my plans and required me to spend much more money in my first two days than I was hoping to.  Nevertheless, I am having a marvelous time.  My second day in Auckland I met up with my friend Joe with whom I met while working in Oregon.  We decided to take the gloomy ferry ride to Waiheke island (where I will be working) so that I could meet Duncan, my future boss, and drop off some baggage.  Duncan turned out to be a super laid back and cool guy who took us out for beers (which are astronomically expensive) and then brought us back to his house to drink some Man O’ War wines.  Wonderful day.  The best part was when he told me the reason he hired me was because I had stated on my application: “I am a badass worker and I guarantee that you will not regret hiring me”.    He got a kick out of it, and the rest is history. You never can know what will catch your future employer’s eye.  I tend to be more bold and irreverent in job applications because I figure if they don’t have a sense of humor, then I don’t want to work for them anyway.  That mantra might not work for ‘real’ jobs, but it works for me. 

On my third day, I started to travel south.  One train, 2 buses and 6 hitches later, I am now in Wellington which is the capitol and the southern tip of the North Island.  Hitch-hiking is a fantastic way to meet interesting people and learn about the local area.  I got rides from many different types of people, but certainly the most interesting were two pleasant young Muslims.  The driver looked and fit the Muslim profile, whereas the other was a scrawny white guy dressed in Camouflage.  The car smelled of freshly ground cumin, and we listened to musical Arabic chanting and pop music. It was unusual and fantastic at the same time.   The most pleasant ride was from a guy named Martin who was of the indigenous descent of Maori, and was the director of foreign trade for the country.  He was extremely intelligent and congenial, and took me all the way to Wellington where he invited me to stay the evening with his lovely family!  I love this place!  

Hitch-hiking

Some local street art in Auckland

Wait, am I in Seattle?

The food bus across from my hostel

I didn't have any paper

My camping spot on the lake Taupo

Travelling

The problem with airports is women.  Hundreds of beautiful women walking around in their business suits or their casual Tuesday attire, all walking to their departure gate where their plane will inevitably take them to far off places.   Never giving me the chance to talk to them and certainly never giving me the chance to make a genuine connection.   Sure they’re nice to look at, but there is nothing you can do to make it more than that and you just become frustrated.  Come to think of it, that’s the problem with strip clubs as well (not that I've ever been to a strip club, mother).  Granted, if I tried to make an airport connection, the conversation might go something like this:

Me:   “Hey”

Beautiful girl:  “Umm hey”

Me:   “We don’t have much time since we’re both leaving and all, so I’ll make this quick.   I think you might be my soul mate.   I know we don’t know each other, but I’d really like to. After I get back from New Zealand in a few months of course.”

Beautiful girl:  (Speechless with mouth agape)

Me: I know this is all very fast, but my gut is telling me that there could be something fierce between us

 Beautiful girl:  “Ummm I’m married”

Me:  “Oh.  Well, I’m very sorry to hear that.  Maybe my gut was just slightly misguided.  Is your friend single?   No?    Well after talking to you, you’re not really my type anyway”

And so on and so forth.

The wonderful thing about airports is all of the other people.   They offer great people watching, fantastic random conversations, and none of the unrequited love.

I had an old Irishman come up to me in the San Francisco airport and ask where he could get his currency exchanged to Canadian dollars.  While showing him the way, he started to tell me that I should really visit Ireland because it is a really great country and that the youth there are very friendly. Then he says: you try to ask a question to a youth in this country…. Well forget about it!   I had to agree with him for the most part and we had a good laugh.  He thanked me for my trouble and we went on our merry ways never to see each other again.  He will forever bring a smile to my face, whereas beautiful women only bring grief (sigh).  

There are so many things to write about already.  For instance, the flight on Air New Zealand was an amazing experience.   To start off, the instructional video that teaches us how to put on oxygen masks and how to stay alive in case of a crash was directed and narrated by Richard Simmons!  He was doing his classic stretches to a Tina Turner song in a discoed out flight cabin and instructing us through the safety steps.  It was hilarious and informative. I wish more American companies would loosen up and get the stick out of their asses.  Second, the in-flight meals were pretty damn good, and was served with NZ wine.  Free booze on an American airline?  Inconceivable!  Third, the whole staff was friendly and funny and brought around pitchers of water every half hour to keep us hydrated without wasting extra plastic bottles.  Fourth, there were 70 on-demand good movies to choose from,  and a slough of music, games, and TV shows.

The only minor complaint that had was.... well, they lost my luggage.  But I think that is the fault of the baggage people, not my wonderful, new favorite airline.  So, now I am in a sort of cluster-cuss that is slightly annoying, but I've always said: "It's not an adventure unless something goes terribly wrong".