First and Belated Post from Auckland..

From John D;

A quick hello to our regular guests who have been filling my email inbox with hundreds of requests and even demands for an update on the blog.

Well here we go.. We have been here for almost two weeks. My first experienced impression of New Zealand was the fragrant air outside the airport. The plant life here is really overwhelming. Besides being a sub-tropical area, New Zealand is home to very unique forms of flora and fauna.

The two weeks have (for me) been split up into two categories: 1. Frantically trying to get ready for class 2. Seeing some pretty cool things in New Zealand.

1. Things are just about ready now, we have phone/internet access (email and cbc), an apartment with posters on the wall and groceries. I still have more to find out about the academic side of things.

2. We have met two Kiwis (Oli and Anita) who took us to Arataki lookout, a waterfall, Kaira Kaira beach on the West Coast, stayed at the East Coast Waihi beach (in a beach cottage) for several days, and we have been to several neighborhoods in Auckland.

The southern hemisphere (that's what the stars are for on the flag - southern cross constelation), is in the middle of its summer. In addition to this, the hole in the ozone is directly over oceana (Australia leads the world for levels of skin cancers) resulting in off the chart uv indexes and quick burns. Our friend Anita's mother got a really bad burn, complete with blisters just from gardening. Emily and I have already got quite bad burns, but Eabha has been fine so far, if only we all had covered strollers..

The temperature has been between 25 and 30 degrees celcius everyday, but the Kiwis tell us "it gets pretty cold in the winter" (an average of 15 degrees in the middle of winter). I think they are just saying it to maintain their rugged image and to justify the electric towel warmers in almost every bathroom. I tell them, "yeah whatever, if the palm trees can hack it, so can I"...

Hopefully now we can post updates and pictures more regularly..

John D