My passport has a new stamp (July 27th, 2006)
Auckland Airport








That was easier than I expected. The flight from SFO was actually quite pleasant. The plane was only about 50% full (at least in the back), so there was a lot of room to stretch out and relax. I managed to get almost a full night's sleep in so aside from losing a day I'm not feeling too out of sorts yet. Of course I've still got a two hour flight down to Queenstown; hopefully I won't completely crash when I get there.

The domestic section of Auckland's airport is pretty small so there isn't much to do now. I was tempted to run into downtown Auckland for an hour or so, but there isn't much going on at 5:00am on a Thursday so I ended up browsing New Zealand magazines instead.

I also discovered an unexpected perk down here: new candy to try. Aside from the New Zealand branded snacks, there are some things I've never heard of, like sour Nerds wrapped in a chewy fruit straw. Yum!

The sun is coming up now, it looks like it's going to be a beautiful day. I had the pleasure of walking from the international gates to the domestic ages (about 10 minutes outside). It's a balmy 4C here, but after sitting in a plane for 13 hours the cool air felt great. I'm not sure that they're heating the terminal either, I'm off to find some hot chocolate.

Next stop: Queenstown!