Well, my New Zealand contract has begun. I arrived into NZ on Sunday (March 5th), and was of course exhausted after about 20 hours of traveling. The jet lag however was not that bad as there is only a 3 hour difference (+1 day) between Vancouver and Auckland. So it's similar to going from east coast to west coast, except for the fact that I left on Friday night and didn't get in until Sunday morning. Thus I lost an entire day of my life! Hmm... not that I haven't lost a ton of those already... a lot of Sunday's for some reason...

So, on Sunday I just walked around Auckland center a little to get oriented. Found out where I would be working which is pretty much right in the very center of Auckland. It was pretty quiet on the streets though, I guess because it's Sunday. Auckland seems similar to Calgary, not only because they are about the same size, but also because I think that a lot of people commute in from the suburbs leaving the city center a little deserted outside of Monday to Friday, 8:00 - 6:00. I hope that's where the similarities to Calgary end!! :)

I stayed in a hotel for my first week, with intent to find an permanent apartment during my first week in Auckland. My hotel was right next to the Sky Hotel and Casino (which I am sure you visited while you was here right Larry? :). It's a multi-functional building, being both the "lookout-over-the-city" tower, as well as providing bungy jumping for the absolutely insane. I'm sorry, but after my bungy jumping experience on Vancouver island, I would rather throw myself out of a plane than bungy again... wait I have done that too... oh well, regardless, I will NOT be bungy jumping while here in NZ. Of course there are other extreme things I may end up being harnessed into... Any ways, the tower is also really cool as it lights up green and purple at night. Very cool looking. It is kinda similar to the buildings that light up along the Bund at night in Shanghai. There it is just on a much larger scale.

Also walked along/through the Viaduct Harbour area, which is basically Auckland's recently renovated downtown harbour area with restaurants, bars, shops, etc. It's a nice area, but with all the docks and buildings and industry, there is only a few places where you can actually get a good view out to the ocean, or the bay I guess. Once you get up high (like from my office on the 11th floor), then you can get a pretty good view of the ocean. But walking along the harbour strangely does not feel like you are on the ocean. Oh well.

There are some real real nice boats in the habour though. Some must cost millions of dollars, I am sure of it. Each day I actually walk along the harbour to work and pass one guys catamaran yacht that is crazy big! Actually, quite a few of the private boats in the harbour are catamarans. I had never seen this before, but a lot of them, of all different styles (small, big, sail, motor, etc.), are all catamarans. I guess if you want to take your boat out on the weekend, then you could make it out to a lot more places that are a lot further out if your boat is high speed. I bet there are expensive though!

So, I started work last week, and somehow I have ended up at a company that seems to move at the pace of a snail! I have now had about a week and a half here at Air NZ, and have still not done ANY actual work yet! Crazy. Big company with money to burn I guess. But it's starting to get me a little frustrated. Luckily, I kept myself busy by first looking for an apartment, and then getting all settled into it. Now though I am really ready and may have to say something (again) if I don't get working on something next week.

Speaking of finding an apartment, that proved a little difficult at first, but managed to find one to move into by the first Saturday. It was hard at first because of course slow Air NZ didn't get my Internet going until Wednesday. Then I was able to really start phoning people and seeing places. I saw about half a dozen places and they were all quite small and only mediocre. It seems that University had just started the same week that I got to NZ and the students had taken all the nice, reasonably affordable places. Damn them! So I was stuck with the left-overs. But eventually I saw a place that was at the very high end of what I wanted to pay ($320/wk) and unfurnished (another $50/wk), but it was in a brand new building, and had no prior tenants. I could also move into it on Saturday and have the peace of mind of having somewhere to live, so I decided to go for it. It's right next to Viaduct Harbour, and only about 15 walk from work, so pretty good location. The grocery store is a little further walk than I would like (about 10 minutes), but then I guess you can't expect NYC convenience in a place like Auckland.

So on Saturday I was able to move into the new apartment. It's quite small, and the kitchen, with the half-a-fridge, and half-a-stove is quite amusing. But it's new, and has a great bathroom and shower, so I am pretty happy with it. I rented furniture from a place called DTR for about $200/month. It's OK stuff, but definitely not brand new furniture. I guess because I am only renting for 6 months, I get used stuff. Oh well it does the trick.

I then spent most of Saturday running around getting all the other little things that are needed when you have an unfurnished apartment. Bed sheets, blankets, pillows, cutlery, groceries, etc. Then after an exhausting and hectic day of running about, I was able to meet up with my friends Trevor and Denise for a more relaxed dinner on Saturday night. Trevor (a friend from University) and wife Denise actually just moved to Auckland from Calgary in February, so I am not completely alone on the other side of the world. We went to an area (Ponsonby) that was supposed to be the major restaurant/bar strip, but was actually quite sparse. It was early in the evening though (7pm-9pm probably), so I will have to wait until I have a proper "night-out" to judge what the Auckland night life is like.

We had Italian, and the food was alright. It seems though that a major portion of the food in Auckland is either Asian or Asian influenced. There are just tons of Asian take-away fast-food places in the downtown area. If you thought Vancouver was Asian influenced, it's nothing compared to Auckland! The nice thing is that so far the Asian food seems to be somewhat better than at home, so that a great bonus. Although I don't think I can be like my friend Wendy and eat, live, sleep, and breathe Asian food. I will have to find the restaurants of other varieties before too long.

So after a week of work and all the hassles of finding and moving into an apartment, I was all ready to do my first day of really exploring Auckland on Sunday. And... I woke up early to rain. Damn! Was not a very happy camper. After a couple of hours though it stopped raining and even though it was still quite cloudy out and looked like it could rain at any moment, I grabbed my umbrella and set out to see something no matter what the weather. Well, as it turned out about 1/2 hour to an hour later it was blue skies! I was told this by co-workers, that the weather can change quite drastically in Auckland and throughout NZ in a day. Was not prepared for it though. It is much different from Vancouver weather. It seems here that it could be clear blue skies and 1/2 hour later pouring rain, then 1/2 after that blue skies again. The weather changes very quickly. I will have to definitely remember this for future outdoor activities for sure.

So I was a little miffed because now I was carrying a damn umbrella and rain jacket all day in the sun! Oh well. And the other bad thing was that because it was so gray out, I didn't put any sun screen on my neck or arms. So, I got my first NZ sunburn. Yeash. Well luckily it was not too bad. So, I went walking though the Auckland Domain, where they have a big museum, then through some suburbs of Parnell and Newmarket, and finally up to Mt. Eden where I got a panoramic view of the city which was amazing. I could see all the way to the pacific ocean to the east and to the Tasmanian Sea to the west. It was quite nice. Mt. Eden, like almost all the hills around, is an extinct volcano, so there was a big crater in the middle of the mountain that was cool as well.

The on the walk back to get some more groceries walked though the suburb of Mt. Eden and then along Karangahape Road (which is shortened to "K -Road" thank goodness), which is where a lot of the popular bars and clubs (both gay and straight) of Auckland are located. I was trying to see what they looked like to get an idea of where to go when I finally make it out for a night on the town. Didn't see much, but then again I guess Sunday afternoon is not really a very happening place for bars/clubs in any town... well except maybe London... and the End-Up in San Francisco... and, well, after-hours all over the place for that matter. But let's not go there!

Any ways, so that was basically my first week in Auckland. This weekend I have booked a hotel in New Plymouth and will (hopefully as long as weather permits) climb Mt. Taranaki on Saturday. Looking forward to it!