Chill Day

I didn't do much today. Slept in till 10:30. So nice. Then off to the library to hop on their free wi-fi and to have my first flat white. So good. Thanks Erin for yet another useful tip!

Flat white

        These kiwis take their java very seriously. On every block there's at least 3 or 4 coffee shops.

Today I mostly hung out around the hostel. I did some laundry and looked for a car online. Very exciting!

I've met a lot of really nice people and we all went out to the bars and hung out till early the next morning. It's fun meeting so many different types of people.

Dinosaur!!!!

                     Everyone speaks English and its so funny to listen to someone from France conversing with someone from Chile. A lot is lost in translation because of their thick accents. It happens to me too, even with the Brits. It took me 2 tries to understand that "Unday's" name was not Unday, but ANDY. haha.

   

Geode in Auckland museum

I don't have many pictures of the streets of Auckland but that's because I don't feel like whipping out my giant camera while hoofing up a hill. Also, it s mostly just buildings. We all know what those look like. But  I'll force myself to take some before I leave the city.
In the meanwhile, enjoy the ensuing randomness of this post.

Fun fact for ya: everything is insanely expensive here. The cheapest meals are about
$9. A 24 pack of  Heineken is $45. Cheapest
pack of cigarettes? $13.50. So quitting is not an option, it's a necessity. I guess you have to be a gazillionare to be a smoker in NZ. It's a good thing tho.

Maori carving at museum

Fun fact 2: Mcdonalds has a lamb burger.

Fun fact 3: oncoming traffic comes at you from your right. I was almost hit twice my first day here. I

Fun facts continued: Lauren gave me the smallest, lightest most absorbent towel in the world to bring to NZ. It must be some sort of magic space towel. Thanks Lauren!

Outside of the  museum

Viva los fun facts: I take goofy self pictures. And I love photoshop to erase all my wrinkles. 

Uphill both ways

Is Auckland hilly?
Yes.
Yes it is.
Its uphill both ways. Apparently the city is built over about 40 dormant volcanos, so that explains all the dang hills. After my walk today, I feel like everyone living in Auckland should have the most spectacular asses in the world.
Pub crawl last night was hilarious.
At the first bar, the Fat Camel, I was having serious doubts about what I had signed up for. Everyone seemed so young.
But I was determined to get the full worth of my $10 in booze.
So onto the second bar, led by a man with a bullhorn, just like the drunk cattle we were.
And the second bar was none other then Globe, the Dirty Bird of Auckland.
But my German roomies were there and I was happy to see some friendly faces. There I met Tim the Brit and Charlie from Alabama who were also in the pub crawl. I asked Charlie if he knew a place to watch American football and he told me to come to the Frienz hostel.
So I moved to Frienz this morning. It's much smaller then the last place. It has much more character and is how I pictured a hostel would be. So far everyone's very friendly.
But back to the pub crawl.
There were games and prizes to be won by the brave/shameless. The last prize was a tour around the north island on a stray bus. Worth about $1000. I tried to get picked for the scavenger hunt contest but I'm so glad I didn't! The last challenge was to get someone from the crowd to give you a full pint and a pair of guys underwear. Then place the crotch of the underwear over the pint and chug the beer as fast as possible. Bleeeehhh. Disgusting. It was hard to watch.
Needless to say, I was very happy not to be picked for the contest. I never could have done it and would have had to face chants of "pussy! pussy!" from kids a decade younger then me.
At the third bar I met Dave from Wales and spent the rest of the night hanging with him and his mates, Russel from Ireland and Phil and Robby from Britain. It was pretty funny when they all tried to guess how old I am. I had to call it a night a little after 1am. My cheeks hurt from laughing so hard.
The next morning we all met up for some free coffee in the hostel and I laughed so hard I thought I was going to pass out.
Later that day I walked to the Museum at the Auckland Domain. Oh my god this city is hilly.
The domain is beautiful and I'm happy I didn't have time to see the whole museum. It gives me a great excuse to visit again.
Besides having football, I like staying at Frienz because its not a dry hostel. I can drink a relatively cheap beer in front of the tv. Awesome.
So I did that, and met about 8 Brits who were all hanging around pre-gaming. Then I went salsa dancing with my German ex-roomies, Juls and Jana. Juls is an amazing dancer.  One guy asked me to dance, I told him I didn't know how but he insisted. After about 30 seconds he held up 3 fingers on his hand and asked "how many? Are you drunk?"
"No, I told you I just CAN'T dance!"
hahaha. What a dick. Me and the girls laughed about it on our way back from the club.
Here's some photos from the museum.

The giant fish hook looks easy to snag