A little fore-word: I decided to post about the NZ trip before the others I have done despite them being out of order. Sorry for any confusion, NZ is just too AMAZING to wait on…
After spending a night in San Francisco with the glorious Bridget and Mark, I took the BART to the Airport to catch a 10:45pm flight to Auckland. I got on the flight itself without a hitch and ended up in an aisle seat with the two middle seats empty. The guy in the other aisle seat in my row and I spread out and took advantage of the extra space. Sadly I am still not feeling the best and I was sniffling and blowing my nose the entire time. I can’t even begin to count the number of times that I washed my hands in that tiny bathroom. The flight was 12 hours and 30ish minutes. I waited until about 3am Western Time (midnight in NZ) to go to sleep on the plane and managed to sleep extremely well for the remainder of the flight (despite massive amounts of turbulence).
The Auckland airport is a decent size with the hallways very neatly marked. The customs there is EXTREMELY strict with signs all over the airport flaunting a $400 fee for any goods that are not declared before going through security. I threw out what little food I had so I didn’t even have to deal with that mess. Although I hopefully wouldn’t get deported or fined for a bag of beef jerky…. OH WELL. After making it out of the terminal I called the rental car company I had booked a car with. They sent a shuttle to pick me up and took me to the depot where the cars are kept. After reading and signing a lot of papers they gave me an adorable little car and I was on my way! HOLY MOLY so this is the first time I have ever rented a car… thank you Bridget for helping me book it <3 and this is also the first time I have ever driven on the left side of the road. Wowwww it is amazingly different at first but you get the hang of it sooner or later. Thank goodness I figured it out quickly but it is still a weird feeling being on the opposite side of the car, in the opposite lane that you are used to.
I drove from the airport to the AirBnb and realized that it was only 10am!!! I could not check in until 2pm so I had some time to kill… so I did what any sane person would do and drove to a beach 45 minutes away! One of the locals at the car rental place recommended it to me as a gorgeous black sand beach with plenty of waves and scenery. He was sure right! Bothell’s Beach is on the West coast of the North Island and definitely lives up to the hype. There is a national preserve/park immediately next to it filled with hiking trails and panoramic views. The beach itself is surrounded by picturesque outcroppings and the most perfect waves. I changed into my swimsuit in the car, grabbed a towel and some beach items (like my book of crossword puzzles duh) and found a perfect spot on the beach to lay out. I took my time exploring and got to wade through a mini river thing, play in the surf, and swim un poco. After about two hours I made it back to the car and drove back to Auckland.
In the evening I met up with a friend who lives in the city and got to see more of the nightlife aspect of town. We had a blast walking through the streets on a mini bar crawl. After the festivities concluded I went to sleep to be ready for the next day.
