Landed.

I'm in New Zealand!


Okay, I should probably have posted something here before I left, but packing got the tiniest bit out of hand. By the time 2AM EST rolled around, I crashed, knowing that my flight was early the next morning.


The flight with Air New Zealand was grand. I met up with a bunch of other IFSA-Butler students, including two other Obies, Christina and Shane. We were scattered all over the plane, but our verdict was simple: Kiwi service is the best. From the in-flight movies and music to the surprisingly delicious meals to the overall put-together-ness of the crew, I was impressed.


At 4AM NZ, we landed, grabbed our luggage, and walked outside to be greeted with our first New Zealand sunrise.





IFSA-Butler's orientation was at the YMCA lodge at Shakespear Regional Park, an hour's drive north of Auckland. In New Zealand, regional parks are a little like American state or national parks, except that there are far more of them and they're administered by a regional council of sorts. I can't do this park justice with words, so...here you go. Photoblog, engage!

















We left the YMCA lodge on Thursday morning and headed toward the Auckland Museum.






Christina with a moa - google it.





Then we hopped back on the bus for the highlight of orientation: an overnight stay at a real Maori marae.


The Maori are the indigenous people of New Zealand - or, as it ought to be known, Aotearoa. Their cultural and spiritual ties to this land are incredibly strong and their ways of life have come to shape many aspects of Kiwi society. (Kiwis = New Zealanders.)






Dinner, cooked underground.


























After our night with the Maori, we returned to the bus and visited Villa Maria, one of the top wineries in New Zealand. I had my first taste of alcohol at a fantastic wine tasting, during which I determined that I'm really not a tremendous fan of wine. (We had chardonnay, pinot gri, pinot noir, merlot, and two other whites I can't remember.)

(Legal drinking age in New Zealand is 18, and it was a fabulous winery. I couldn't not.)




















We were reunited with our luggage at Auckland Airport, only to hurriedly reshuffle our possessions to try to meet 25kg (about 50lbs) weight limits. The flight from Auckland to Wellington was short and sweet, giving us plenty of time to settle into our temporary lodgings at a YHA and check out the area before a walking tour and pizza dinner. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures from this point - my oversized, obviously-tourist-property camera was hiding safely in my room while I found an internet cafe.


tl;dr version: I'm in New Zealand! We saw some sheep and birds and real poi and Wellington likes to rain for no reason when it feels like it, a bit like Cleveland. Moving into apartments on Monday.


Apologies for length. Future updates should be shorter - I just got so backlogged without internet access!


Kia ora!


- Becky