City of Sails

The only stressful thing about the airport is that I decided to be a rebel and not claim any food items on the card they hand out on the airplane. In fact, I’m carrying about 15 pounds of energy bars my mom used to make for my bike rides; they will serve as backup food so that I can ward off any grumpiness that comes when I get hungry. We didn’t get searched so it was fine.

The bus ride into town was about 40 minutes, and we arrived at our hostel at 6 in the morning, but couldn’t check into our room until 1pm. So we put our stuff in the storage room and explored the town a little. We found some WIFI at a coffee shop that had great muffins. I worked and Emma finished up a romance novel.

The main excitement so far: we were in our room and heard some laughing from people in an adjacent room as they left to go downstairs. Emma swore she recognized it. After we finished unpacking and were lounging in the kitchen area, Chelsea’s good friend Katie Hall and her boyfriend Todd walked in. Small world! They both go to Pomona and were on the last day of their month long trip through New Zealand. They just happen to be on the same floor at the same hostel in the same city at the same time. Crazy.

So we figured there was some celebration due. After trying out a few of the New Zealand beers we find out it’s quiz night. We figured four Pomona kids on the same team was pretty much unstoppable, so why not give it a try? There were some pretty random questions; the only section I provided some help was the Beatles section. We elected Todd for the challenge round. The goal was to be the first to be wearing sunglasses, scarf, bra, men’s underpants, and a hat. The girls ran up to the room, got everything together, dressed him in 2 seconds flat, and he ran back down to the bar as the winner. We won a weekend trip for 2 to some nearby islands. We ended up third in the main quiz after getting screwed with several valuable questions on an Australian soap. But then the winners came over to our table and gave us those prizes anyway; we bought their table a pitcher.

We went to check out another part of town, but we found that immediately next store was the most interesting of all. We weren’t sure if it was a hole-in-the-wall massage parlor or a Chinese restaurant, so I ventured inside to report to the rest of the group. I saw a guy at the register, but at the top of the stairs my peripheral vision saw about 15 women hanging out at the bar. I go up the desk and look down at the menu: massage $40, something else $80, and low and behold, “Full Sex: $180”. I nod approvingly, as if I were judging the value of such a proposition against other competing offers, and politely say “Thank you.” Walking back down the stairs as one of the women call after me, “Come back soon honey!” Wow. We were laughing about the Full Sex option for a while after that.

Unfortunately, the weekend trip didn’t quite work out because it’s peak season and we’re leaving for Dunedin before the trip returns to the hostel. The other prizes were vouchers for the Magic bus that goes around the South Island, but we are going clockwise and all their trips go counter clockwise. Shucks!

Needless to say, we’re feeling lucky to be here. Yesterday was sunny and we made a monster sandwich and went and chilled at a park overlooking the bay. Tons of sail boats out; Auckland’s the city of sails after all.