Old friends

One of the great things about traveling, depending on where you go, is that it gives you the opportunity to meet up with friends that you otherwise might never get the chance to see. For us, it was providential that we began our trip by meeting Jasmine, an old friend of mine, in Auckland. She and her husband Dan gamely picked us up from the airport, showed us around Auckland, made sure we were well fed, put us up for the night, and took us to the airport bright and early the next morning. The fact that this all happened on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day made their hospitality twice as gracious. The fact that New Year's Eve was also their wedding anniversary (six years and counting!) made their gracious hospitality immeasurable!

Auckland itself was pretty quiet on New Year's Eve. We visited One Tree Hill, went for dim sum (yum!) and walked around New Market and Parnell. Jasmine also drove us around the city a little, before we ended up at De Post, a Belgian-themed gastropub for dinner. This was where we were introduced to "kumara", the New Zealand sweet potato (which a subsequent trip to the supermarket confirmed looks just like regular sweet potato).

But by the time dinner was done, we were ready to call it a day. And so we entered 2012 without any fanfare (but maybe some light snoring). The next morning, we were whisked off to the airport for our short flight to Christchurch. In New Zealand, domestic check-in is up to 30 minutes before the flight, but as we learned, you can sometimes push that to 20ish minutes. ;)

Next stop, Christchurch!