Of Astronauts and Asteroids

...So in New Zealand (the poor trusting bastard) obnoxiously boisterous untrustworthy Americans, like ourselves, are completely allowed to go driving about on the left side of the road in their right-hand drive vehicles without any sort of education in the subject. Lucky us. 

We were told a legend of orange and white polka dotted minivans bearing spaceship logos that have convertible beds in back, portable stowaway stovetops, mini coolers,  and dvd players... so we set out for the suburbs of Auckland to steal away our very own spaceship, Kodos. 

The thing about Kiwis that can be said pretty certainly across the board is that they all curse at least as much as i do and that they all have pretty serious senses of humor. i think we found this obvious in the lengths they went to at OuterSpace... Katy and Shark are pictured just in front. We literally signed documents labeling ourselves astronauts of this spaceship with a promise not to race the fucking thing. As if racing a Toyota minivan (ahem, spaceship) could offer any sort of thrill. Charlie assured us that it had happened in Hamilton once between two rival spaceships. Unfortunately some good-doer Kiwi called the number painted across the "arse" of the ship and reported the out-of-this-world foul play. 

Okay, we agreed, no racing the spaceship... but if we run it off a cliff in the hopes of it actually firing up and taking off, well then, now who's fault is that really? 

We navigated the ship back to the city where we loaded up our bags on a street corner, bright eyed and bushy tailed, ready to hit the hills of or North Island home...

Auckland, The Adventure Begins

So here are the long-awaited photos and details of the first few steps of the adventure. It's going to be difficult to backtrack and capture it all just right, but i am going to try. 

i guess it begins in Auckland...

The girls arrived just before dawn and dammit, it was cold and dark. Guess we weren't in Kansas anymore. 

We set out on foot heading up and down the city's steep, winding streets after safely settling our belongings in a windowless dungeon of a dorm-like room on the 10th floor of the Base ACB Backpacker's on Queen St. The consensus? Auckland looks like a city. Plain and simple. 

Mark arrived around 6:30p and couldn't have gotten there any sooner. We were starving... and thirsty too, of course. We set our feet back to the streets and eventually found a cozy restaurant/bar to have our first meal. Lamb, steak, cocktails, red wine, and mussels were shared as we were corralled into playing some trivia (a seemingly popular Kiwi drinking pasttime) and despite our pathetic attempts, were awarded a round of loser shots *pictured*. 

After a proper tour of establishments (which was a short one as Monday nights are apparently slow in the city... likely excuse, NZ) we rolled our way home (seriously, Katy and i thought it was a good idea to lay down and roll down the ridiculously hilly, and ridiculously empty, streets... reminiscent of our first night out together ever in the Paign, nearly four years ago on Green St. Fitting that this should all take place on our first night out together ever in NZ... on Queen St.) Katy stopped to be a tourist *pictured*. 

In my confused jetlag state i, of course, woke up after sleepwalking onto the elevator at 8a barefoot and without a key to get back to our floor. Eventually i made it back frightened but unscathed to an incredulous reception from Mark in his undies and Katy in disarray. Sorry Katy, i won't let it happen again. 

The rest of the days in Auckland were fairly uneventful, signing our first mobile plans as "best mates", getting bank accounts and IRD numbers, and all of that responsible bullshit. We had our first Burger Fuel experience at this fast food chain that sells gourmet style 1/3lb burgers that come with cardboard fold ups to hold your burger in so that you don't lose any goodies as it inevitably falls apart *pictured*. Ketchup is called tomato sauce and costs extra so Mark, the condiment king, has decided to carry his around with him. Naturally. He is pictured in his SCUBA helmet, wetsuit thing just before i knighted him. Duh.

Coming home that evening we found our unexpected dungeon mate moving his stuff in and after the initial awkward  shock of coming "home" to a rugby-playing Englishman we all went out to Globebar for "a few drinks." Turns out Kiwis like to play games at the bars. Raunchy games involving teams having to pop balloons in various sexual positions and candybar sucking contests (use your imagination here, i'm sure you can get the drift). We awoke bright and early the next morning with headaches and a plan to roadtrip the North Island in search of a hometown...