Honeymoon; Part 1

Under the assumption that people want to know what we did and where we went on our honeymoon trip to New Zealand and Australia, I will be posting about what we did each day. If we were boring or didn't take any interesting photos, I will group a few days together to make things more fun.

Day 1 (Really, this was 2 days...3 if you count the day we lost going over the International Date Line): Oct 12-13

This trip had been a long time in coming, and both Josh and I were excited about going. I had never been to Australia, and neither of us had been to New Zealand. This was going to be awesome, and I couldn't wait for the plane ride to be over before I started taking photos of things:

The tiny line to the right of the plane, extending down, is the Int'l Date Line

So close to our destination! Yay!

 Yes, that's right. I took photos of the TV screen on the headrest. You're lucky I didn't show you all of them.

Once they had turned the overhead lights on and finished clearing away a delicious breakfast (btw: Qantas serves good food, which is a complement coming from a picky eater), I got busy with the camera again. It was now light out and I could see land!

More YAY! (it was bright out!)

Somewhere over the North Island

Beautiful coastline

Inland

Most of the countryside looked just like this

Josh was tired and not amused with my sudden energy. I think I had enough excitement for the both of us. For balance, here is what Josh looked like:

No, he wasn't on the ceiling, but that would have been awesome. Gotta love technology.

So we got off the plane and collected our bags, and I stopped jumping up and down long enough to take a photo of this plaque. It reads:

"Tainui joins with the people of Aotearoa in welcoming all visitors and offers a prayer that enjoyment, enlightenment, friendships & a safe journey be your constant companions, always NAU MAI! HAERE MAI! Welcome! Welcome! Welcome!"

I, for one, felt very welcomed. There were more carvings of these figures with large, carved paua shells for eyes framing the entrance to the main airport building. My assumption is that they were carved in the Maori style, and were quite interesting. Our photos of it are blurry, unfortunately.

Next up? Renting, inspecting and figuring out how to drive a car with a steering wheel installed on the right side, all while woefully under-dressed for the windy, cool weather in Auckland. Travelers tip: If you are going to New Zealand and plan to drive, rent a gps unit. It will save you time and is well worth the cost of the unit, guaranteed. More on the roads in NZ later.

Our little compact rental, the perfect car to start with when driving on the left for the first time

Quite a novelty to see the steering wheel on the "wrong" side knowing you have to drive it

Checking that everything works. The first and last time Josh inhabited this seat

"OK, I think we're ready to go, take my picture!" Hee hee

This is weird! The left lane is the slow lane, not used to that!

On our way to Auckland from the airport

People that have not driven on the left side may not realize how awkward it is to switch at first. The first problem that I noticed is that my first instinct is to walk to the left side of the car to get to the driver's seat. Josh had the same problem as a passenger. The second problem was that I had no idea where I was in the lane while driving from the right-hand side and Josh kept telling me I was too close to everyone on his side! Ooops, ok, I tried to adjust for that one. Next, problem was checking blind spots and actually changing lanes. The motions to do so were foreign simply because I had muscle memory to look the opposite way for everything. Then, when I was ready to move over, I would conscientiously turn on the windshield wipers before entering the lane. Think about this the next time you get into your car. It sounds stupid, but I had a hard time with it. This became my biggest, and funniest, although minor problem. I did it almost every time the first two days, and at least once a day after that. At least I kept that windshield clean, right??

That plucky little gps took us straight to the hotel, despite it being surrounded by one way streets and not being noticeable until you pass it. The very small car park in front of it was full, so we had to drive around the block 4 or 5 times, but we had made it!

View of the rainy streets from the hotel

Ok, I think that this post is long enough, so I am going to stop here because I have too many photos to add from the rest of the day (which is far from over). We got to the hotel a little before noon, had the hotel hold our bags, and ran off in search of some food and to catch the ferry.

To be Continued...