First Day In New Zealand!

We have arrived!  The plane ride was long, don't get me wrong, but since it was late and I had already cried a few times that day since I had to send my dog off with the transport people (I'm a total sucker for that dog, letting go of her was awful), I slept quite a bit.  It was dark for the portion from LA to Auckland, but the connection between Auckland and Wellington gave us some amazing scenery which is pictured below.  Finally settling into our hotel in Wellington.  It is quite different then what I'm used to.  Down to having to put your room key in the outlet when you first walk in the room to make all the electric work.  They really want to make sure you don't waste their energy when you leave the room! 

So far, Wellington has been pretty cool.  We got here too early to check in, so we decided to walk around down town (city business district).  It really felt like a mini Manhattan.  Between the shoppes, boutiques, cool feel, and expensive prices, we knew this was a great place to visit... but also knew that it's probably too expensive for our final accommodations! Plenty of other cool places outside of this main strip that will cost less!

Weird thing that happened, and proved that this is a "small world".  As we are walking around, a young woman came up to us and said "Are you from Cincinnati"?  I was shocked, and then I realized Elliot was wearing a Xavier sweatshirt!  This girl was not just from the USA, but her boyfriend was from NKY, and she grew up in Louisville and went to school in Lexington at UK.  Small World.  They were in Wellington on a working holiday visa (same as us), and have been here since January.  It was such a cool thing.  She gave us some tips, pointed out some cool places, and then gave us their email addresses so we could get together soon.  What a great contact!  A young couple on a working holiday visa in Wellington, sound familiar?  Her boyfriend was even a drummer back in NKY.  Now you can't say that's not crazy!  Looking forward to the friendly midwest contact!  Going to at the least meet them at Southern Cross (bar/pub) for their weekly Tuesday Night Trivia Night, because she said it's kind of western style trivia so they win a lot :)

We already miss our family and friends, but it's exciting (and scary too).  Got a note from Belle's quarantine, and she arrived safely, so for today, it's all going well!