Auckland city

Wow what a trip it has been to get to this point. We are still chugging along ,since Sunday,trying to acclimate to the other side of the globe. It's been an uphill battle since we landed in There Auckland four days ago. We took a $90. taxi ride to a storage unit we rented for a month. After that we were dropped at a hostel downtown. The room wasn't ready so we waited it out for a few hours then took the greatest showers ever. The room has a double bunk and a small bath off it. There is no other room to move. We have used it strictly for sleeping. They do watch allot of American shows like Rachael Ray, CSI , Simpson's and allot of other detective shows. The hostel is 7 or 8 floors of rowdy foreign kids looking to hook up with other travelers to share expenses. It gets pretty loud when they come back to their rooms. There is a bar in the hostel, lounge and computer room to pay for Internet time. We have been going to Starbucks down the st. for free.
Our first night we tried to stay on their schedule. We ate at a rugby bar that served a $3 breakie(as they call it) and saw the American movie Super Bad.It felt good to have a bit of America for awhile.
Woke up early day two to buy the necessities like phone, converters for electronics, and set up NZ bank account. Later we took a hour train ride out of town to visit Jude. That day we must have walked 10 miles at least. This is the first time in a long time we've been without wheels. It's getting us trained for our hikes! We are staying positive. All this work will pay off when we escape the city. There are allot of people here, mostly Asian. The trend in music and clothes are the 80's.
Jude is being well taken care of in kennel. There is a young kiwi girl who loves Jude. She plays with him every day. We got to hang out with him for an hour in his caged area. We left his favorite teddy bear for him. Can't wait to get him back.
It had been a beautiful Spring afternoon. WE enjoyed seeing all the different flowers and trees along the way. Lilies grow like weeds on the side of the road. Trees flower purple and pink and smell like lilacs and Jasmin grows on trees. This was great till the skies opened up and poured down on us after getting off the train. We decided to find our storage and get a few things out -like rain gear. It took longer than anticipated by looking at thew map. Most of the walk was up hill in pouring rain. There are allot of awnings on stores you can run in and out of. We arrive at storage and changed. Matt sat in his boxers and ate his lunch while I dug out the rain gear. No one else was there so we decided to wait out the storm. An hour later we realized it wasn't letting up so we braved it back with ponchos , waterproof pants and gortex boots. The gear passed the test.
Later that night we found a van on line the next day we took a train to the house to check it out. A 10 year old Solomon girl met us. She had been the young sounding woman we've been talking to. Her father speaks broken English. We test drove it and realized it's the best for the cheapest. It has roof racks, four wheel drive and a ram bar. The father was home when we returned. He said all we had to do was follow him to the post office and change names and pay A diesel fee. We keep the plates and all that. Nothing to sign. The line wait was the most painful part. We gave him the cash and we drove off into another rain storm. Matt braved the roads on the right side. We made it to a paring lot a few blocks from the hostel. Looks like we will have to stay a few more nights to get the van fixed up for our execution. We are having someone build a bed, hang curtains, tint it and new shocks. After all that Matt and I travel up to Corromendel Peninsula were everyone goes to holiday.
We will write again when we get out of the city and have more tales to tell. Miss you all.Happy Birthday Meg and Love you Molly and Frankie!