January 21 - 23: Auckland to Wellington

After a wonderful month with family and friends, we're back on the road. The second half of our year started with us skipping the most hopeful day in our nation's recent history as we crossed the international dateline from January 19, 2009 to January 21, 2009. But we heard he did just fine without us around :)

After landing in Auckland we picked up our cute little rental car for the month (a Nissan Pulsar whom we've named "Petunia") and headed south. Driving 5 hours on the left-side of the road after a red eye probably wasn't the smartest decision, but we survived. There's something comfortably familiar about taking a road trip - listening to our music and sleeping in our own tent - through this magical country.

Our first 48 hours in New Zealand have lived up to all the hype.... The scenery is insanely beautiful (For all you Lord of the Rings junkies, yesterday we hiked under the gaze of Mordor's Mount Doom). The people are wonderfully kind (from the woman who gave us a bowlful of plums just because, to the man who said he no longer was in the camping business but we could stay on his property anyways if we wanted to). And yes, there really are as many sheep as everyone says there are. We're regrouping in Wellington today before heading to the South Island tomorrow where we'll be spending most of our month here in this little slice of paradise...