For the Love of Ben G.

Driving on the Wrong Side of the Road

I never saw myself being able to handle driving on the left side of the road. But here I am, the proud owner renter of an adorable Daihatsu Sirion hatchback, zooming around Auckland, rounding roundabouts, and remembering to "give way" rather than "yield".

Had a fantabulous day yesterday. Got myself a prepaid SIM card, so I can send and receive calls and text messages. The prices aren't too shabby—receiving texts and calls is free, and sending international messages is only NZ$0.30/message. (I have to keep reminding myself that yes, we do indeed live in the future, when I can keep in touch with all my US friends wirelessly anywhere in the world). Lunch brought me my first encounter with a savoury pie (chicken and asparagus) and sausage roll (surprisingly, it was lamb sausage—the first sheep I've seen in NZ!).

To be good little Auckland tourists, we visited the gorgeous 328 meter tall Sky Tower, with its beautiful panoramic views of the entire skyline of Auckland. It was a gorgeous, clear day, and we were blessed with a perfect 360º view of the city. Auckland was remarkably low-key, I felt, much more relaxed and easygoing than San Francisco or Tokyo for sure. I got a great feel for the layout of the city, how it's nestled between natural harbors and gently spreads out towards the hills.

There were even people bungee jumping (well, guided-cable-jumping) off the top of the tower. One girl actually paused right in mid-jump in front of the glass and held up a big sign saying "THIS IS FOR YOU, MUM AND DAD"! Made me grin from ear to ear. I'd love to try that! I'll be heading to the South Island in about two weeks, so I'll hope to make it to Queenstown, the home of extreme sports like bungee and Zorbing.

Afterwards, we rented the aforementioned Daihatsu Sirion, and I practiced driving and turning right for a while. Surprisingly, I had no problem shifting (I like driving a manual) with my left hand, but what caught me unawares was how difficult it is to signal a turn with my right hand! I kept using my left hand like I would in the States, and I ended up turning on the windshield wipers more than once. I swear I'll get the hang of it sooner or later.

Today (Wednesday, August 22nd), I'm going whale watching on the Dolphin Explorer, which was highly recommended by Terry's good friend Ingrid Visser. I'm completely stoked, as Ingrid said they have a fantastic strike rate of being actually able to see dolphins and whales on a regular basis, especially in the winter.

I'm still posting lots of photos to my Flickr page, so check 'em out!

Sky Tower in Auckland, New Zealand

Safe Touchdown in Auckland

I made it safely to Auckland! The flight was amazingly smooth; with a few glasses of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc in my belly, I promptly fell asleep, thanks to my travel pillow and eye mask. (I'll never, ever travel without my Rick Steves travel pillow again.)

I barely got to play with the awesome in-flight entertainment (they had dozens of movies and hundreds of CDs) before we were landing. Terry's parents Jen and Roy met me at Auckland Airport, along with Terry's great friend Ingrid, and we were soon off to their adorable home. They fed me homemade bread and delicious New Zealand butter, and I feel human again.

I'm off to rent a car and get a SIM card with Terry and Roy. Woo hoo, fun, here I come!

South by Southwest to New Zealand

After working nonstop for, well, the past six years since I graduated from UC Santa Cruz, I'm about ready for a vacation. A nice, long vacation. I realized I'd been working so hard on VMware Fusion for Mac that I'd sort of forgotten how to relax. And we can't live without our healthy daily dose of slack now, can we?

So, I had to figure out where to go to relax. Unfortunately, if I burrowed all the way through the earth from California, I'd end up somewhere off the coast of Madagascar, so that plan was right out. Thinking back, ever since I was little, whenever I'd have a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day, I'd resolve to move to Australia. On top of that, I was fascinated as a young kid by a New Zealand TV series on Nickelodeon called The Third Eye. Oceania was looking like a prime candidate for some serious R&R time!

When a worldly friend of mine recently mentioned he was off on a six week whale-spotting jaunt to New Zealand (just one of several countries he grew up in), my eyes lit up. Visions of hobbits and orcs dancing in my head, I resolved to make my first long vacation be to the gorgeous Kiwi island nation.

Armed with sound travel advice from trusted sources, I spent way too much money on superlight Rymplon™ travel clothes (you know, the ones that look their absolute best when they're creased and sweaty), and I'm packed and ready to go. Traveling coach across the Pacific is something I've only done once before, when I picked up and moved to Japan in 2001, but I think I'll be able to handle the 13 hour flight with plenty of entertainment.

36 hours left in the States. How should I pass them?