Getting to New Zealand/Auckland

Well, the saga continues. When I got to the airport yesterday, I had trouble. New Zealand didn't want to let me in because I didn't have a return visa for Australia....mine was "attached" electronically to my old passport. I have to reapply online from ourside Australia, which I will do as soon as I finish this.

The Sydney airport is huge and busy. The Auckland airport is tiny. There were only 4 planes on the ground when we landed, including ours. The first thing you notice from the air, besides the love turquoise water, is the greenness of the landscape. It's really different from what my friend Joyce calls the bush color (brownish greyish, green) of Australia.

Auckland is a lovely city. I went on a free sightseeing tour today (sponsored by the bus tour company; very reminiscent of time share tours). Anyhow, the beaches are lovely, the water clean, the streets without litter or graffitti. I learned today that Auckland is physically the size of London but only has 1.4 million people living there.
There are more boats (mostly sailboats) per person in Auckland than any place else in the world, hence it's name, The City of Sails.

The X Base hostel where I am staying is excellent. They have a special floor called The Sanctuary, this is women only. I think hostels don't know what to do with older hostelers. They are afraid to put us into room with scads of 20 year old, so, for the second time (Sydney being the first) Sandy and I are staying (by ourselves) in a dorm room for 9, so it's very luxurious. They give you coupons for free dinners, free drinks, and a free city tour...see above. On the beach in 5 minutes I found a huge collection of shells which I photo graphed and will try to get into this blog. Amazing...no polution or oil spills. There are 50 extinct volcanoes around Auckland, and the Maori people built their settlements on top of them as a defense against warring neighbors. Places have 2 names, English and Maori . Maori is taught in the schools, andMaori culture appears to be valued.

While I'm writing this outside the Internet Cafe there is a street bagpipe bang playing "The Banks of Loch Loman". Sandy booked the hostel hottub for this evening...not a bad way to end the day..We fly to Rotouroa tomorrow afternoon.