The journey begins - we're here!

Today has been the longest day...ever. At the same time, since I woke up yesterday, I lost almost an entire day! Time is weird sometimes.

We spent Sunday morning killing time at the hotel, waiting for Andy Serkis to come on. He eventually did, and he was very entertaining. He moved around a lot, so I only took a few pictures that didn't end up blurry. I really got the impression from him that he loves what he does and that's why he does it. He was somewhat misunderstood as Gollum and again as King Kong, but eventually I think the movie industry will look at him as a pioneer of motion capture. Here's probably be best picture of him - check out the New Zealand shirt!



Alex took us to the airport Sunday night, and we had plenty of time to mill about and complain about how expensive things were before we boarded the aircraft. We both had window seats, Rebecca about 12 rows ahead of me. I was sitting next to a woman and her daughter who were coming to NZ for one week and then Australia for two weeks.

I have to commend Qantas on the quality of their flights. Right off, your seat has a blanket and pillow in it. A few minutes into the flight, they had you an amenities pack, which has an eye mask, socks, and a travel toothbrush (and toothpaste). Then they served us dinner - chicken fajitas or mushroom pasta. The pasta was delicious! Then there was hot chocolate and coffee, followed by hot towels. Finally, they gave everyone a snack pack (potato chips, cookies, mints, and a bottle of water). Each seat had its own screen installed, with over thirty movies to choose from, as well as television and music. I watched Notes on a Scandal and later fast-forwarded through Casino Royale and Little Miss Sunshine. After dinner, I slept fitfully for about six hours. After waking up, they served hot and cold breakfast.

We finally landed 12 and a half hours after take-off at 5:00 AM local time (9:00 AM in LA and noon in Atlanta). After Rebecca got strip-searched in customs (not really, but they did check her hiking boots), we bought a ticket on the Airbus and came out to our hotel. They didn't have a room ready, so we had some continental breakfast and headed out to see Auckland. By now it was about 7:30 AM. We wandered around for awhile to check out Auckland. It seems nice enough, although I was a little disappointed to see Burger Kings on every corner (it's like they are the Waffle House of New Zealand!). I think the problem is that we're downtown, so most of the people nearby seem to be tourists. Finally, we caught another bus to Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Adventure.

We took a few pictures of Auckland and Okahu Bay. It was really beautiful here - although windy as you can see from my flyaway hair!







Kelly Tarlton's was interesting. It was a bit of a letdown to me, but it was okay. They had a mock-up of the hut Scott and his men lived in while exploring Antarctica, complete with video from his expeditions from 1910-1912 (which he died on) and Shackleton's expedition in 1914. I found the video fascinating - to think men actually got out giant saws and cut through ice! Some of them survived on the ice for months - just amazing! After that, was the reason we decided to go here - time to get up close and personal with some penguins! We got to ride in a bobcat through the penguin habitat, which was pretty cool. A group of penguins, and then a mom or dad and a baby! (I'm pretty sure that if you click on any of these pictures, you can get to the full-size ones.)



After penguins, we saw a two-meter long stingray that weighed over 400 lbs, a giant squid (yuck!), and then a bunch of interesting fish.

By now, we were exhausted and yet it was still only about 11! We came back to the hotel and cleaned up a bit and then had lunch. (Mom and Margaret, you were right about the Tevas - they were a relief today.) We shopped for awhile, and now we're back at the hotel, trying to stay awake for a few more hours until it's reasonable to go to sleep! We should probably do more or see more, but it feels like we've been up forever and we're picking up the RV tomorrow morning. I can't wait to get it - it will be awesome to be able to settle down a little bit and not have to worry about moving my gigantic backpack again for two lovely weeks!