Hello New Zealand

After 23 hours of travel, we arrived in Auckland at 6am. Our plane was the only one so the airport was eerily empty but customs and security checks moved really quickly. In fact, I've never encountered nicer air port security in my life! New Zealand is very strict about bringing in potential contaminants so the security man washed my flip flops for me! They have never been cleaner!

We took the air bus to Britomart train station and no,  despite the name, it is not a supermarket. :P

There really is a huge gap between the platform and the train

Because it was a work day, people bustled about getting to work or school. The two of us, with giant backpacks, stuck out, but we weren't a rare sight. The people we interacted with, all the way from Airport customs to a cashier, were used to backpackers.

We grabbed the train to Aio Wira, a vegetarian yoga retreat center just outside of Auckland. It is lush and gorgeous here.

It's hard for native Albertans to believe this is the start of winter!

It's been almost a week now and we're fitting into life here at Aio Wira. We've baked cakes, cleaned nasty hair out of drains, weeded like no tomorrow, and cozied up to blazing fires at night with a cup of tea.

Fellow woofers playing cards

My boyfriend and I did manage to get into the city for a bit to set up our New Zealand bank accounts. We stopped by a mall to have lunch. The sushi is so interesting here! I wasn't allowed to take a picture, but each individual piece is lined up in a display case for you to pick and choose as you please. There were a variety of choices ranging from vegetarian sushi, different types of rice, takoyaki, gyoza, and fried things.

Fresh macadamia nuts from a local market

Being out in the bush, there are a lot of choices when it comes to bush walks. 10 kms down the road is Bethell's Beach. It's all black sand! We ended up going on a stormy day, but I'm sure its stunning on days of better weather.

Bethells Beach - all black sand!

It's only been a week but it feels longer! I also think I'm starting to pick up local words and accents, completely unintentionally. Maybe by the end of this year I'll speak just like a native Kiwi.