A Home in New Zealand

One of the few remaining Kairi trees that grow as much as 20 feet around
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I wait for Bill on the other side of immigration wondering why he's taking so long.  Finally, he comes through and tells me that he got yelled at by the immigration officer for not having me with him as he was carrying our plane tickets, and you should always be with your tickets.  He asked to see the plane ticket and then told him to go wait with me, but I was already through, so he finally just stamped the passport and let me through. Normally, we get yelled out for trying to go together as we are not married yet or have the same last name, just can't win.

Relaxing in the scenic bueaty
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But as we head out of immigration, we're greeted by the smiling face of Leo, who is our first SERVAS host.  He had his SERVAS sign, so I start poking Bill to walk that way as he had not seen Leo yet.  Leo immediately started showing us around Auckland as on the way home he took us to see One Tree Hill.  I couldn't stop starring at all the sheep grazing around these lands and just listening to them "bah bah" away to each other while they run down the hill.  At the top of One Tree hill was a beautiful view of the city.

Bill, Michelle, Leo, and Roz saying goodbye
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Leo took us back and showed us around the house, and for the first time, we had a bed that felt like a pillow of clouds compared to all the hard mattresses the last 3 months, it was a pleasant surprise.  Leo then shortly feed us lunch which happened to be a wonderful homemade soup by Roz who we would meet shortly as she was out playing golf.  We ate on the lovely patio overlooking the wonderful rose garden they had created.

Leo later took us downtown to learn more about the bus options available to us and then another scenic drive up to Mt. Eden.  We had jet lag as we lost five hours and arrived at 7:00 am without getting much sleep on the plane, but all of Leo's excursions kept us going and not thinking about sleep.  We were on our way to fight this jet lag.

The inside of the crater at the top of Mount Eden
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Around 2:00, we finally got the opportunity to meet the delightful Roz.  She ate a wonderful chicken dinner with us and then she had to dash for a meeting that happens annually.  Bil and I kept ourselves entertained trying to catch up on this blog and fighting the jet lag.  Though Leo started to help Bill discuss our plans around New Zealand, and they mapped out a whole route that left us riding the bus a lot of our trip.  So we ended up cutting out half of the bus riding by flying from the North to the South.  We were able to book all those arrangements online, and Leo's advice guided us the whole way.  How lucky we were to have an extremely easy transition here.

A view over downtown Auckland
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The next day was full of even more activities.  Though before those actives commenced, Bill and I slept in a bit on the cloudy feeling bed and then after breakfast, Leo showed me where the laundry room was.  However, when Roz inspected the laundry, she was shocked to see so much from SERVAS travelers.  It was a first for her, my only solace was that we had dirtied every piece of clothing we had trying to keep warm in Beijing and the change of climate her was so welcomed.

So after we hung out the first load on the lines, Roz and Leo took us to see the Gamuts.  These birds are resilient as they come back to New Zealand just to lay their egg on a windy cliff; it's such a difficult climate that these birds only lay one egg as one chick is enough.  Though it seems they return to the same mate each year.  And as we watched them, they seemed to have some weird mating rituals or they were just picking ticks off each other, who knows...

The Gammets have made this rock home
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The next stop being a wonderful picnic as a cute little winery.  As the weather gets warmer,  some of the wineries have picnics tables for you to bring food or when the season gets even better you can buy lunch as well as have some great wine and even some wine tasting if you so desire.  Roz feed us well with sandwiches and cheese and crackers with a beautiful day.

And if I thought we'd be heading back yet, was I wrong as Roz took us on the Auckland walk.  It was walking through a New Zealand jungle in the middle of a city surrounded by a golf course.  New Zealand is even working on making sure to keep their environment stays the way it is by having us spray our shoes before entering; Roz said this was new for her.  And so after this, we had to head back so I could finish the mound of laundry.

They have actually taken over most of this area
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Roz made us homemade fish and chips for dinner.  Having all these homemade meals in a row was such a treat as we'd been missing them terribly.  Even if we don't stay with another SERVAS couple, it was worth signing up to have such a welcoming start to New Zealand.  Leo even dropped us off at the bus the next morning making sure we were safe on our way to Paihia.

Michelle