Thursday July 1
The 13 hour flight went much smoother than I anticipated. Three hours into the flight I managed to fall asleep and when I woke up there was only an hour and a half left so no problems there.
The plane landed at 5:30 in the morning so this made for one long first day. After a short bus tour of the city which included stops at one of 43 dormit volcanos located in Auckland and at the pier I attended the first of three orientation sessions which was rather basic and boring, we (that is the other US students and I) had some free time to explore Auckland.
We took a ferry across the bay to Devanport to check out another volcano and investigate some tunnels and caves made by the NZ military during WWII in anticipation of being invaded. They were very dark and creepy and unlike US historic sites it was not guided nor were any areas off limits to the public in fact the only thing they had was a gate at the enterance that opened at 8 am and closed at 8 pm.
That night we ate at a cafe on the waterfront and hand a couple drinks at a bar before returning to the hotel exhausted.
I dont have the time to make this look good and the site makes it extremely difficult to move pictures around and post more than one.
Wow, nephew! So glad to hear you made it! Your mom called to say that you scored a row to yourself on the plane. Now, you're the uber-traveler! Love the photos and the post. Hope you'll keep blogging!
ReplyDeleteAlex, I have been reading your posts to my mom and sister while they visit me in DC. We all enjoy hearing about your foreign adventures.
ReplyDeleteI am going to try to figure out how to post this comment. We were all excited to hear from you. I tried to text you, but I guess we can't do the text or phone deal if you don't have an international cell phone. We are in Dakota. way too windy for the river so Dad, Dan and Max are on their second round of golf for the day. RE 1 won both of their games this week. Tommy pitched really well on Tuesday. We left Thursday and Ben did the coaching. I guess the Justin pitched well and hit a homerun. There was also rumor that Doc hit a home run. I will try to send this...Love, Mom
ReplyDeleteI did it!!! I think you are 17 hours ahead of SD time so 18 hours ahead of Laramie time. Rafa is in the Wimbledon final-Federer out!!!
ReplyDeleteGreat pictures!
ReplyDeleteare you using Blogger in Draft? you shouldn't have any difficulty with pictures if you do.
ReplyDelete