New Zealand!!!

Kia Ora!!

Hello to everyone! Well, I'm finally here. The long and anticipated 18 hour flight is gone and past! And all I can say about that is...thank goodness! Phew! Technically it's been over 24 hours since I arrived in Auckland, but let's just say the jet lag has definitely had an affect on me! Before my sleep last night, I had only gotten 4 1/2 hours of rest over a period of 48 hours. I'd attribute most of it to nerves, and the fact that I had to stay up an extra 6 hours to get used to the time difference!

In case you might have been thinking to yourself, "Geez...I wonder what time it is there..." Just think of this: Six hours behind Utah time, but the day ahead. Haha. Or 18 hours ahead if you prefer to count that way. So It's about 8:30 PM on Monday night in Utah, but about 2:30 PM Tuesday afternoon here in Auckland!

Alright, enough! :) Things here have been going great so far! Haven't had a lot to do, YET, but I think I have more than enough time to go exploring soon! Getting used to things is probably the top priority on my list so far, as well as blending in with the rest of the Kiwis! I would have to say one of the strangest experiences so far is the mere fact that a lot of the things that should be weird to me...aren't that strange at all!!! In fact....driving on the left side of the road seems a bit more natural to me than I think it should be! Haha. I guess I'm more of Kiwi by heart than I thought!

There's a fairly big mall here in Auckland. It's bigger than anything we have in Cedar City, anyway. :) I've only been once, but there's a lot to see. I had some great Indian food yesterday when I went adventuring through the mall with Aaron (Kylie's younger brother). It's called Butter Chicken. It's quite good. I even had some "Real" Fish and Chips last night! Yum Yum. Finished off with a couple glasses of L&P's. It's a NZ drink! Yum!!!

Anywho...I've only just had the opportunity to take a few pictures today, but it's still winter here, so it's almost constantly raining! They aren't the clearest pictures, but they give a good overall impression of what downtown Auckland is like at the moment! The really green areas are just outside of Auckland in an area called Papakura. This is where the family business is, as well as my home for the next several months! The monument is one of the bigger volcanic mountains in the area! It's called One Tree Hill, for those U2 fans that know the song! :)

Hope to take more pictures soon! Take care, ALL!!