Kia Ora, Auckland!

Auckland waterfront

Guidebooks and friends have warned me that I won't like Auckland - I'm surprised by how much I do!! To me it's a cross between LA and Vancouver. The palm trees, tropical flowers &

breezes, glitzy nightclub district and urban sprawl of the former are pared with the green

spaces, fresh air, volcanoes, large Asian population (and accompanying Asian restaurants -

yum) and outdoor-adventuring spirit of the latter. Add that cute Kiwi accent, friendly, open

people, and the Maori culture, and I'm ready to recommend this destination to anyone!

Auckland Sky Tower

Downtown park

My good impression of New Zealand began the moment I stepped onto my Air New Zealand flight in Vancouver. (By the way, have you been to the Vancouver airport lately? They are all

geared up for the Olympics - the airport is big, beautiful, futuristic and...empty. I'm sure

very soon it will be nuts!)

One flight attendent told me to watch the step up to the plane because "It's a little

higher in New Zealand...yeah, that's right, and the jokes only get cheesier from here."

Throughout the 15-and-a-half hour flight, the service was consistently cheerful and sincere.

The food was actually GOOD, and I enjoyed watching "500 Days of Summer" - a new romantic

comedy that is very original. Go see it!

NZ is a very American-friendly place to travel. They speak (adorable) English, the cash

machines readily produce cash, and the shuttle drivers at the airport don't try to rip you

off.

I underestimated the amount of time it would take to acclimate to cars on the left side of the road (and drivers on the right side of the vehicle). I'll keep you posted if this is

ever actually achieved. ;)

Today I walked through the ritzy suburb of Parnell where my hostel is located to the

Auckland Museum - the site of New Zealand's most impressive, comprehensive Maori artifact

collection.

Auckland Museum

I caught the 11:00 am Maori cultural performance, along with other

tourists from Egypt, Malaysia, Belgium and Spain, to name a few. Highlights were the

demonstration of three traditional weapons by (super-cute) Maori warriors, and their

performance of the "Haka" - a ritual meant to intimidate and challenge enemies before

battle. It is said that after a truly successful Haka, there is no fight, because the battle

has already been won through intimidation. The men stomp, slap their thighs, chest and

biceps, stick out their tongues and roll their eyes back, while the women yell and bulge

their eyeballs. I wasn't sure whether to applaud or run!

I surrender!

I also visited the intense volcano exhibit. It emphasized that Auckland is built on

volcanoes that could erupt at any time, and delivered a very Hollywood, action-packed "who-

dunnit" of every violent, tragic eruption in human history. Mt. St. Helens was one of the

stars.

I decided that I had had enough museum time, and rather than go to Kelly Tarlton's

Underwater World and Antarctic Encounter as planned, I opted to have lunch down the hill in

an unassuming Turkish deli and read The New Zealand Herald. The paper proved far more

educational than any guidebook or museum.

Topics of interest:

• New Zealand's football (soccer) team, the All Whites, just won an unexpected spot in the World Cup finales (the first time since 1982). The big victory took place in Wellington on Saturday night - the city saw its biggest crowd ever. Apparently many cash machines ran out of money leading up to the game.
• NZ is pleased that Obama has sent a special invitation to Prime Minister John Key to visit the White House in early 2010 to coincide with the nuclear summit. New Zealand's firm anti-nuclear stance did not make it very popular with the Bush administration, and this move by Obama shows that times have changed.
• Apparently PM John Key and Obama were quite chummy at the APEC event in Singapore this weekend. Obama had even been briefed that it was the prime minister's wife's birthday. Key is optimistic about the expansion of the Trans Pacific Partnership to include the U.S. (Currently just New Zealand, Singapore, Chile, Brunei)
• The Herald has an entire "Green Section" devoted to environmental news, including a report of a study suggesting that if everyone ate "vegetarian" just two days a week, it would have enormous positive impact on the environment.
• Yesterday, hundreds of Kiwis protested the air-dropping of poison meant to kill off possum pests. (They weren't protesting the killing of possum or the use of poison, but specifically the method of dropping it from the air.)

Whew! What fun.

Interesting side note: An Israeli woman selling hummus and hot chili sauce at an open air

market yesterday mistook me for an Israeli! Upon further self-examination, I realized that

with my newly-permed longer hair, olive skin and backpacker attire, I could indeed pass for

one of the many young Israeli women I met traveling through South America last year. But

there's one key difference - I'm alone. Typically young Israelis travel in big groups.

(Juan: remember that crazy bus ride from Bariloche to Pucon?!)

View all my Auckland photos and video of the Maori performance on Picasa:

http://picasaweb.google.com/fortinm/Auckland?feat=directlink

I hope to post more in the first few days of December...

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Love,

Molly