December 22, 2005 08:04

I've now been safely in New Zealand for 50-odd hours. The flight from LA was uneventful, which is probably for the best. I watched a couple of movies: The World's Fastest Indian and Wedding Crashers. Both were very enjoyable. The former was about a New Zealander in the 1960s who had modified a 1920's Indian motorcycle and took it to Utah and broke the world land speed record. The latter was a pretty funny buddy movie. I didn't get much sleep, because cattle-class is not good for sleep. Immigration and customs were a breeze, if slow; and I collected all of my bags and that was it. My cellphone didn't register on the local Vodafone network, so I ended up using a payphone to let my mum know where I was.

I spent Tuesday recovering. I had a shower and breakfast when I got back to my mum's. I checked my email and called Cingular to sort out my international roaming (and that was fixed up very quickly and painlessly - a positive customer service experience). I then settled down in front of the TV to see what was available. I eventually settled on watching day four of the Australia vs South Africa cricket test at the WACA in Perth. After that had finished, I played some Civ. I did doze a little during the day, but I decided that I wanted to stay up as late as possiblet to try to force myself into a NZ cycle. I also had to keep in mind that I had an early start on Wednesday to go to Masterton to complete the work aspects of the trip. But prior to all of that, I had visitors: my dad, my ex-step-mother, my half-brother, my half-sister. And some assorted people associated with aforementioned family members. It was good catching up. I ended up hitting the sack at 10pm.

I was awake at 5am on Wednesday (equivalent of 11am Tuesday EST). I got up around 6:15am, had a shower, breakfast, and my sister turned up with kids in tow and they took me out to the airport. The flight to Wellington was uneventuful; the landing was typically Wellington - bouncing around on the wind, speeding up and slowing down, and the slamming on of the brakes when the plane hit the ground to make sure we came to a stop on the short runway rather than overshoot into the harbour. Heheh. Then I picked up my rental car and drove the 100km (~60 miles) up to Masterton for my meeting. I slipped very easily back into left-side driving. My meeting went well and next year's commitments are in place. I headed back to Wellington at 4pm, dropped off the car, then got myself a pie (mince and cheese) and a beer (Speight's Old Dark). Another quick flight back to Auckland, where I was picked up by my dad and half-sister, who dropped me back at my mum's place. I was in bed and asleep by 10:30pm.

I awoke early again today (Thursday) but was able to get back to sleep again for a little longer. I got up a bit after 7am (1pm EST) which is a much better sort of time. I'm still a little tired, but then again, I'm usually tired in the morning. Today I'll probably catch a bus into Takapuna later this morning and try to catch up with a friend or two for lunch.

It hasn't been very summery, but I guess it is fairly typical Auckland early summer. It's been very showery, with rain every day, but some blue spots. Today's forecast is for scattered showers, a high of 23C (~73F); currently it is 16C (~61C) with scattered cloud. So it's probably better than Atlanta, but I still feel cold.

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