Kia Ora! This means 'hello' in Maori language and it's used as a greeting to welcome foreigners to New Zealand. I arrived in Auckland, New Zealand's biggest city, yesterday and the first thing I saw was rain. Oh no! After the magical day in Disneyland Resort Hong Kong and the beautiful weather there, it was quite disappointing to be welcomed by rain...

My flight from Hong Kong to Auckland went well, although I was a bit scared when I arrived at Hong Kong International Airport and couldn't find my flight number anywhere. It turned out that Air New Zealand had changed my flight number, but luckily, I could still go on board. The gate number was changed as well, so it was a little bit stressful when I left, but once I was on board, the pilot had good news for all travellers: instead of 11 hours, the flight would only take 10 hours and 10 minutes. Hooray! On the plane were a lot of Chinese people and also, of course, a lot of New Zealanders. I found it really weird to be surrounded by tall, big, white people. I know now how an Asian must feel when he sees a white person for the first time! New Zealanders are really tall and most of them are big as well. A lot of (young) kiwi's smoke and there's a fast food restaurant at every corner of the street. I thought New Zealanders enjoyed a healthy way of living...
A lot of people (including an kiwi who's moved to Europe) had already told me that Auckland isn't all that special. Unfortunately, I'll have to agree with them. I feel like being in an American rural town. It doesn't have a cosmopolitan feel to it at all. There are shops and there's a port, but it all feels a bit ... bland. Like food without spices. Most travellers don't stay in Auckland very long. They move on to other places where they can find beautiful nature and high bridges to jump off from. I haven't decided yet what I'll do, but I'd definitely like to move out of the hostel I'm currently staying at. Argh! I'm sleeping in a bunk bed on a mattress that has been slept on by many people before me... I might as well sleep on the floor, haha! Three girls from Argentina sleep in my room as well. The room doesn't have any windows (stuffy!) and it's quite noisy. For me, breakfast is included in the price, but I have to go to a restaurant outside the hostel to eat it. Since I'm backed up by the Dutch organization Travel Active (hence this blog), I'll be getting a 3-hour orientation workshop tomorrow morning during which the ins and outs of living and working in New Zealand will be explained to me. Of course, I couldn't wait until tomorrow (patience!), so I've already opened a bank account, applied for an IRD number (for taxes) and I've bought a New Zealand mobile phone. If you like, you can send me a text message at: +64 02 26 40 81 34. Please keep in mind that there's a 12-hour time difference between Amsterdam and Auckland.

Have a good day and enjoy celebrating Sinterklaas!