And all I got was this lousy postcard

Feb. 16

My first long journey has ended and I'm lounging around in Auckland, New Zealand. Although long, my flights were quite painless. I was to have a 5 hour layover in LA, after 2 flights from Kansas City and Phoenix, but before an 11 hour trip to
Fiji. Luckily, my friend Maria picked me up from LAX and took me to a fabulous dinner in Hollywood. Strangely enough, all of that time I spent in LA, I'd never been to Hollywood.
Anyway...Fiji!!! Well, It was only a stop over, and we spent three hours inside at the gate, but that warm, refreshingly muggy air that encased our bodies as we boarded our flight to Auckland was FANTASTIC.

If I have two words to describe my very first impression of NZ, it'd have to be, NICE PEOPLE. I'm amazed at how helpful and nice the Kiwis are. You certainly don't find that everywhere, or hardly anywhere for that matter. I was out of that airport in no time at all.
I hopped a cab to my friend Ciaran's house in New Lynn. Mucho dinero. The cab ride that is. He has a cute little house right near the coast with a family of ducks living in his backyard. He showed me around all of his peach,lemon,avocado trees and grape vines. Yum. I ate a peach right off of the tree. It is very quiet and serene here. Although quiet probably isn't the best way to describe it. It's actually very loud, with the sound of bugs....secadas? maybe? It's wonderful. The air is heavy and we had a short, inevitable rain.
I haven't even seen the country. Auckland certainly isn't the part of New Zealand that one raves about, but I'm already falling in love.