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New Zealand 2018 Day 1: Auckland!

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So we're back at it! This time we've traveled to the -almost- bottom of the world to see Aaron's longtime friend get married to his Kiwi bride. The timeline of our our adventure was a bit wonky to start; we basically skipped a whole day and literally flew into the future.

Hi Mom & Dad! We're 19 hours ahead of you!

Here's the breakdown:
Leave from Dallas on Friday the 16th at 8:00 PM.
Fly for 16 hours to Sydney - Arrive at 6:00 AM on Sunday the 18th. (SATURDAY DID NOT EXIST FOR US!!??)  2 hour layover.
Leave Sydney around 8:00 AM - Approximately 2.5 hour flight. 
Arrive in Auckland, New Zealand around 1:00 PM

There you have it. We're time travelers.



There was nothing too exciting to report from the flight except we were well fed and the staff was incredibly kind.  (looking right at you United) Also, there was no chair in front of Kaylea, so she actually had leg room and the seat next to Aaron was empty. We mostly slept through the flight and we finally finished season 2 of This Is Us. Kaylea ugly cried and hid under the smelly airplane blanket. 

AUCKLAND!
We have arrived! And its muggy as hell! Our bags were on the belt before we arrived and customs was quick. The excitement began with the rental car, a tiny red Suzuki Swift with the steering wheel on the right and a big sticker on the dash reading "KEEP LEFT <-----".  Surprisingly, driving on the left side of the road isn't the worst part about driving on the left side of the road. The worst part about driving on the left side of the road is the driver side being on the right side of the car. Suddenly your blinker becomes the windshield wiper, and your windshield wiper is your blinker. We got an automatic transmission, because a left handed gear shift probably would have made our brains explode. Thank goodness the gas and break peddles are the same as they are in the states. We managed to survive the 8 minute drive from the airport to our hotel with a calm, collected navigator, and some cat like driving reflexes. Then Kaylea decided to take the car for a spin. 

After a quick nap, we decided to head to downtown Auckland. It was our only night we were going to be able to, so we hit the ground running. We were only 25 minutes away from downtown, and the drive was only slightly less stressful.
(look at that focus)

We went to a place called Viaduct Harbor. It's a waterfront destination in Auckland with a bunch of bars and restaurants, and just generally a nice place to walk around. Unfortunately for Kaylea, Zillow didn't seem to work in the area. The restaurant we chose was a little busy, so the service was slow, but the food was delicious. It was only after cleaning our plates that we realized we probably should have taken a picture of the food. Honestly though, we weren't quite sure we're comfortable being people that took pictures of their meals. 

Afterwards, we walked down a ways to a dessert cafe. The wait was 20 minutes, so we got takeaway and walked around while eating our cheese cake in a jar and chocolate chip biscuits. 



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