Skipping across the date line to New Zealand

I arrived in Auckland around 9 pm from Oahu the day after I left due to the international date line. The flight was fantastic thanks to a friend hooking me up with a cheap ride and extra legroom! Love me some Hawaiian Airlines! I immediately headed to Vodaphone when I arrived to get a New Zealand SIM card to utilize while abroad and found that although I was told my cell phone was unlocked for international use, it was in fact not. Feeling slightly disappointed about that, I hopped on the Airbus that stops throughout Auckland and particularly at a lot of backpacker hostel locations including Auckland Base where I was going to be staying for the next three nights. I checked in and made my way to my 4 dorm bedroom which consisted of 3 men and was incredibly small. I guess I got what I paid for! I headed back out to the lobby and got hooked up with some wifi and worked on getting an add on Gumtree (somewhat similar to Craigslist but less creepy for finding travel partners). I also responded to quite a few promising adds as well and called it a night. 

My first full day away from home and essentially on my own since I wasn't with any friends or family anymore. It was an interesting feeling...the world was essentially mine for the taking and I could do whatever I wanted BUT first things first...get my phone working! A minor but important step. I started by heading out on a self guided city walking tour when I stumbled across an iPhone repair store. I was there for about an hour and the end result was that my phone still wasn't unlocked so I bit the bullet and bought a basic phone to use in the meantime and made my first text with it to none other than a Miss Kelley Wigton! Great success. I continued along my walking trek through Auckland and found myself at the top of Myers Park which had a gorgeous view of Auckland. 

I made my way back down through the city and checked out the Auckland Art Gallery which was free when I was there, score! Some pretty interesting stuff was inside but the building interested me the most. The building had been recently rebuilt and the architecture of it was amazing.

After the museum I made my way through Albert Park and to the Government House. It was a beautiful, clear day out and was rather warm. At this point I had some responses to my Gumtree ad so I met up with Thomas, a 24 year old from France. We had a beer at a bar and walked over to Viaduct Harbour and Wynyard Quarter. 

We grabbed some pizza at Sal's which claimed to have their pizza dough from New York. The pizza was surprisingly good. Although Thomas wasn't the best fit, we both wanted to do a week in the Northland area above Auckland and he had a car so I agreed to leave Auckland a day early (I had my hostel booked for 3 nights) and head north with him the following day. After dinner I made my way back to my hostel because I was pretty tired. At this point I called Verizon up and was able to get my phone unlocked and working with my new SIM card. Hooray! 

On to the Northland in the next post!