The trip over to Auckland was not without its own drama. One of the great perks of working for an airline as I do is the ability to get great rates on international travel. Of course, with every great perk comes the flip side. International standby. There's really nothing like starting a week that is supposed to be the ultimate in relaxation and fun with 5 hours of pure stress, wondering if I'm going to get on the flight, trying to figure out alternate routes to get to Auckland in time for the Guns and Roses concert (more on that later), trying to be patient and graceful as the departure time nears and I still don't know if I'm going to make the flight or not, etc. The greatest part of all this is that my flight leaves at 9:55 and they finally give me my boarding pass at 9:45. The guy at the ticket counter calls me up and says "Here is your boarding pass. Run!" At this point, I still have not made it through security and I have about 10 minutes to get to the plane before it goes. Fortunately, the people waiting in line at security were very gracious and let me cut in front of the line. I don't know if it was my winning smile, dashing charisma, or the sheer look of panic in my eyes that made everyone so willing to let me go. After I got through security, I didn't have time to tie my shoes and I didn't want to run barefoot through the airport, so I slipped on my untied dress shoes and started sprinting. Of course, my gate is the very last one in the LAX international terminal. If anybody has ever flown out of the international terminal in LAX, you know just how big it is. Finally, after what seems like an eternity of sprinting, I get to the gate and dash onto the plane. The flight attendant looks at my boarding pass and escorts me to my seat. In business class. In my sheer desperation to make the flight, I didn't even realize that I had been upgraded. I get to my seat completely out of breath, hot, sweaty and fried. The guy sitting next to me asked me if I was going to have a heart attack or something because that would make for an uncomfortable experience. He actually turned out to be a really cool guy and I had a great conversation with him after I caught my breath and cooled down.
To paraphrase Ferris Buehler: International Business class is so choice. If you have the means, I suggest you try it.
We arrived in Auckland at 4:45 am and Erik and Carsten are not going to get there till 10. So I have the lovely chance to check out the Auckland International terminal... and domestic... and parts between... while weirdly jet lagged. Once Erik and Carsten arrived, we went to Carsten's friend Milsie's house where we chilled before the Guns and Roses concert.
That's where I learned how to play a great game called "3 card lou." It's a little like euchre with gambling involved. The more people who play, the higher the stakes get. I started off a little rough, but once I figured out how the game worked (and after my nap) I won back most of the money I lost at the beginning of the game. Erik did pretty well himself I believe.
After the game wrapped up, we ordered some pizza. Good stuff by the way. I'm not sure exactly what I would equate it to here in the States as the flavors are different than what I would expect for pizza. I guess you can get some weird stuff like that in California, but I've had Cali pizza and this was different. We ordered from a place called Hell Pizza. Hell Pizza is a nationwide chain and they do good work. I'd be very interested to see how everyone there would like something from Giordano's. Very different stuff.
On we went to the GNR concert which was, in a word, amazing. I had never seen them live before and, even though the band is just Axl and a bunch of new people, they were very tight.
Actually, they had Robin Finck on lead guitar. Robin is formerly the guitarist for Nine inch Nails. Granted most of NiN is Trent Reznor, but for touring purposes, Finck was the guitarist before he left and joined up with Axl for the latest tours. Anyway, on to the show!
Erik and I managed to squeeze our way up to the front of the floor (I make a great lead blocker) where we ended up about 5 rows off the stage. Great positioning for a great show. They played all the favorites, opening with a great rendition of Welcome to the Jungle, playing Sweet Child O' Mine, Live and let Die, November Rain, and closing with Paradise City while shooting off a huge cloud of confetti.
Sebastian Bach (of Skid Row fame) opened for GNR and by the time Axl got off the stage, it was about 2:30 am. Fortunately, my internal clock was so skewed up I had no idea what time it was.
We left the concert in varying stages of exhaustion, and hopped a cab back to Milsie's place.The next morning (afternoon?) I had my first experience with the famous New Zealand baked pies. Mmmmmmm pies...... Erik's cousin Carsten was jonesing for KFC, which I could not support at all. It's interesting how in the States, fast food is somewhat universal, but there are some definite differences in the same chains over there. For example: in New Zealand's McDonalds, they have something called the Kiwiburger. It's kind of like a Big Mac, but it has a fried egg on it (nice) and instead of pickles, it has beets (sounds worse than it is.)
That afternoon Erik, Carsten, Sarah and I flew back to Wellington and I got my first hit of the real mountainous region of Wellington. It was raining pretty good that Sunday evening so there weren't any real opportunities to go out a-wandering, especially with the sun setting so early. It took me a little while to wrap my mind around the backwards seasons, although I would have to admit having New Years fall in the middle of summer would be pretty awesome. It might make for less frigid evenings on rooftop decks watching fireworks from behind the Chicago skyline.
From Monday through Thursday, Erik had to work so I was on my own for the days. Pretty much every day I slept in and then started wandering around, taking pictures, getting a feel for Wellington, watching people, seeing the sights, going to little coffee shops, trying tons of different cuisines and different hits of local flavor. Erik and I did meet up for lunch every day at different places, all of which were awesome. On Monday, I went to the Te Papa museum which is a fantastic museum of the history of New Zealand. There are some great exhibits which talk about the history of the Maori, a beautiful art gallery with local artists through the years, an examination of the geological region of New Zealand. There is a big fault line running right through Wellington and they examined what could happen if that ever went. That night, Erik, Andy (Erik's flatmate) and I went to this great Belgian restaurant and had some amazing mussels for dinner. Not only amazing mussels, but also a fantastic variety of Belgian beers. After that, we went out and hit a couple bars including a backpackers bar where Erik and I tried to dispel some stereotypes about Americans that are out there.
I think we got through to a couple Aussies and one guy from Japan before calling it a night. Tuesday, I went for a hike in the mountains directly outside Erik's place. He's right. I did get indignant when I found out he had not checked that area out yet, so I'm glad he finally did. Much like the pictures he posted, that area is absolutely gorgeous. I came across this passage through the trees that seemed like it was straight out of a movie.The views were spectacular. The day was pretty sunny and I noticed something very interesting. The sun is much more intense down there, probably from the huge hole in the ozone layer above Antarctica. As a result, the colors seem almost washed out because the light is brighter. Even when it was partly cloudy, I was happy I had my sunglasses with me. After lunch at this nice Indian restaurant, I wandered towards the Botanic Gardens which are breathtaking. I would imagine in the summer they'd be even better with all the plants blooming and the rose garden in full effect. As it was, it was awesome. I got some spectacular views from the top of the hill where the Cable Car goes from downtown to the top. On my way back, I stopped in for a pint at the Speights brewpub. Good stuff. I especially like their Distinction Ale. Very nice that. That night, after Erik, Andy and I went to catch Transformers,
we went for some authentic Hong Kong BBQ. That is like no Chinese food I've ever had before. It felt a lot more authentic. Dessert was at this amazing coffee/dessert shop and was really really good. We all had more food than I think any of us knew what to do with. Wednesday was a lot of fun. I wandered around Cuba Street which really reminded me a lot of my home town of Boulder, Colorado. Lots of little eclectic cafes and shops that felt a lot like the Pearl Street Mall in downtown Boulder. I was enthralled by this water sculpture that would pour water into the scoops below. Very neat.That night, Erik took me to play with him in his basketball league. That was awesome. I haven't played b'ball in quite some time and I'm not sure what I was expecting. I do know that it felt more hardcore than I had originally thought. We had jerseys, referees and everything. It was great to get out there and dominate. Erik and I were twin towers down low. We absolutely crushed the other team. I found out later that the guys were asking if I could come back and play with them again. That would be awesome, but I don't know if I could handle the commute.
Thursday night was a blast. We went to Mac's Brewery and made it a point to sample their entire selection of hand crafted brews.
Very tasty beverages if I might say so myself. Dinner was amazing as well.We ended up hanging out there for quite a while before we headed out and checked out some fun live music at one of the Irish bars downtown. That band was a lot of fun as well, although they didn't play many of the "traditional" songs that I knew and could have sang along with. Oh well, maybe next time. After that, we bounced around a bit and Erik showed me a really neat place called Good Luck. His joke is that it's called Good Luck because "Good luck finding it!" As we went in, the aroma of fresh citrus was overpowering. That's because they make all their drinks from scratch (at least the fruits. I'm guessing they don't distill their own spirits.)
On Friday, we dragged ourselves out of bed and went to go rent a car for our journey up into the countryside. The full descriptions of that adventure will be forthcoming in the second half of "The Long-Awaited Guest Entry."
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