Newly Discovered Zealand

Sam, Matt, and I all arrived well rested after our 14hr flight from SFO to LAX to Auckland NZ at about 4:30 am one day in the future. We started out our day punchy and loquacious, immediately befriending a girl that was on our flight and spent the morning acquainting ourselves with the local coffee shops. We dropped our bags at a hostel, and made our way down Queen Street for the Docks to catch a ferry to Rangatoto island.

Lunch adornment at whatever burger place we ate at in the Airport, noted purely for the mustachioed men.

Echo-y announcements at a dock yard are hard to understand in the US, but when said with an accent, they are completely indecipherable...as such, we along with three other people, missed the first boat to the island. Coincidentally, two of the other victims of the NZ accent were two guys who sat next to Sam and I on the flight. All 6 of us spent the day exploring the volcanic island's beautiful jungle carpeted slopes, crater, and caves.

Erin exploring a jungle lava tube.

Tyler and Kevin
Erin at the Cave mouthKeeping vigilant watch on our bagsCave Kaydid
Katydidn't?

Sam shuffled off his mortal coil in order to get into something a little more comfortable.

Mollusk city!

Possibly roots with lenticils to breathe?

Some sort of auracariace branch...and Matt

We started leaving mustaches wherever we can find a good hiding place. If anyone ever finds them and emails us, I think we will be able to work out some sort of tshirt deal.




Matt Matt Matt Matt
in aucklandFlaming fountain

Sitting in the gift shoppe of the Auckland Contemporary Art Museum

Fountian!

My guess is these boulders were transported from Moeraki Beach.

Cicada exoskeleton

A good example of deapth of field!

Mushroom Mushroom

Roosting Pidgens

Lotus Flower at the Winter Gardens in the Auckland Domain

Peppers

Sage with water dropplets at Sensory Garden

Our first night in Christchurch with Devin and Emily.

We have spent the last two days hanging out in Christchurch with Devin and Emily awaiting the end of the Easter holiday (almost everything shuts down), but this glorious overcast morning we are taking a city bus out of the city and trying to hitchhike to Arthurs Pass to go "trampping" for the next two days. If we don't make it to Arthurs Pass, then we will at least have an adventure to tell when we get back!

Ta for now,
-Eric