This post encompasses getting to New Zealand and my first 48 hours down under!
I traveled for about 24 hours (plus losing a day to the international date line) to get to New Zealand (slept some in Seattle, but it was still all part of the trip). And I’ve been in New Zealand for Monday August 20th and Tuesday August 21st. Let’s catch you up on what has happened on my journey so far…
My parents bought a new house in Billings, MT and they closed on August 17th, the day I left for New Zealand. So, at 5pm, 30 minutes before I needed to be at the airport, I was headed over to see their new house. It’s a lovely house, and I wish them the best in it. This also allowed me to say good-bye to all my family members that live in Billings, but it also confirmed I was on my own, as no one accompanied me to the airport. I drove myself.
I arrived in Seattle, WA around 9pm, but it was close to 10pm by the time I got up to Mike and Meagan’s house. I have to confess that I ran out that night to get some exercise, but I also got my last marijuana joint to help calm my nerves and mind. Because of both of those things, I got a good night’s sleep, and I was back out the door at 6am to catch my flight to Honolulu.
This is how I traveled anytime I had all three pieces of luggage with me – the tech pack on the front, scuba pack on the rear, and my clothing and everything else in my roller bag. It actually worked out very well, and I never got too sore because of it.
Meagan took this picture of me. Once again, she truly is my family, even more so than some of my own family members. My sister lives in Seattle, close to the airport, but she hasn’t spoken to me since May, so she didn’t know I was passing through. And the last thing I communicated to her (through a card for her birthday) was that I would give her all the space she needed, and so I did. I’m hopeful I’ll be invited to her wedding next year, but we’ll see what happens.
My flight from Seattle landed in Honolulu, my first time ever in Hawaii. I wasn’t that impressed with the airport (no terminal maps that I could find), and I only got to see a little bit of scenery surrounding the terminal. But, I took a couple of photos to prove I was there. Getting out of Honolulu proved to be a bit more exciting, as I was told that I NEEDED to have a return flight booked before I could board the plane. They told me this 30 minutes before the flight started boarding, even though my Visa documentation didn’t specify a return flight was needed, only that I had the funds to travel out of the country, which I proved with a bank statement. But that didn’t satisfy Hawaiian Airlines, and so she called New Zealand immigration and actually let me speak to them. After going back and forth with the immigration official, I eventually had to concede. Evidently, this one condition of my visa “stay subject to grant of entry permission” means you have to have a return flight booked. Well, since I planned to go to Australia in December, I just booked a cheap flight from Christchurch to Melbourne for $120 AUD using Kayak.com. I was the last to board the flight.
The actual flight was uneventful. I watched 3 movies, tried to sleep but couldn’t really, and colored the playlist cover for September’s ReDefined playlist. 
Getting through customs, security, and picking up my bag took close to 45 minutes. I got to see this impressive stain glass and carved piece as I headed towards baggage claim.
I still hadn’t heard from my CouchSurfing contact Natalie by this time, so I was starting to get a little worried. But, Natalie was true to her word. She said she would be there to pick me up, and she was, along with her son Michael. Her daughter Olivia wanted to come as well, but I came in at 10pm, so she stayed home, but she made the sign that they were holding up to greet me.
When I got to their town home in Totara Heights, I found out I would be staying on a pullout couch in the living room. So, not much privacy for me, not even in the bathroom, because the bathroom had chickens!
Yes, you read that correctly. Here is picture proof of Ruby and Cluck!
Monday August 20th was my first full day in New Zealand. I had a 3 things I wanted to accomplish that day.
- Get a cell phone plan set-up, preferably with unlimited data so I wouldn’t have to worry about my data usage.
- Get power converters for all my tech devices. I neglected to consider that New Zealand had a different voltage system.
- Get a transit pass and figure out the train/bus system.
Natalie drove into work (she works at KiwiRail) and took me with her, so I was in downtown Auckland by 9am. Queen Street is the main thoroughfare in downtown, so I walked up and down that to find places to accomplish my tasks. And I did accomplish all 3 by 2pm that day. By that time, I was a little tired so I hopped on a train and headed home. Here’s a pic from my train ride as well as a Bird of Paradise plant that I encountered as soon as I exited the train station in Manukua.
I got home and Michael and Olivia were home from school so we played together until Natalie got home. We all enjoyed a beef stew dinner and called it night soon after, as everyone was exhausted from staying up late the night before and the busy Monday.
Tuesday August 21st I rode with the kids as they got dropped off at school. I was a little jealous that were both going to go to a Katy Perry concert that night, but it was also nice to have some quiet time at the house that night (well, mostly quiet…I could still hear the Ruby and Cluck upstairs in the bathroom.
I got dropped off at a coffee shop after the kids were dropped off, and then met Nick, a gay guy who I had met previously in Billings. Yes, I consider it divine providence that we met up in Billings, since Nick is from New Zealand, lives about an hour south of Auckland, and I was headed to NZ in less than a week after I met him. He took me on a drive around the Auckland peninsula. We stopped off at the Michael Joseph Savage Memorial – New Zealand’s first Labour prime minister (1935-1940). The grounds were impressive, as were the views of downtown Auckland in the distance.
Nick then took me over the Harbour bridge and mentioned you can bungee jump off of it. I think that will be my birthday present for myself, and it will count for the new experience for the month of August. I’m pretty excited about it. 🙂
We stopped for lunch in Davenport, I had an awesome salmon risotto, Nick had a weird calzone pizza and we both had a couple of beers. Nick graciously paid for our entire meal, which was so sweet. He is a manager at a real estate business here in New Zealand, raises equestrian horses in his free time, and is doing very well for himself. He was very generous towards me today (with his time and his money), and I’m grateful for the time we spent together.
He then drove me back to Totara Heights and I killed a little bit more time waiting for the family to get back to the house. I primarily worked on the previous blog post (https://trinitydreamer.com/2018/08/21/see-you-soon-farewell-or-good-riddance/), which was a very difficult, emotional task for me. But I’m glad I did it, and I’m super excited to now be posting regular content to this blog. I hope you can enjoy the journey with me, and I’d love to hear from you in the comments.
And here is your reward for completing the blog post. A song from this month’s Apperception III playlist. Born to Be Yours – Kygo and Imagine Dragons. For me, it ties me back to my relationship with my Creator, Redeemer, and Friend – the Holy Trinity.
Until next time…