Do you live in Vancouver, the car-wash city of Canada? You have a competition then and if you don't have a twin or sister city yet, tell your mayor to pick Auckland. Perhaps the 'special gate' that we took from the Sydney airport to go to Auckland was a wrong one. The sun never shined and the rain poured almost continously while we were there. To top that, toward the final day of our stay, we had gale force wind in Auckland and some other parts of New Zealand. However, the miserable weather in that city was compensated by the warm-hearted people we met, especially our host and hostess, AB and JB. I told you already how A the hubby had to sleep on the floor on an air-mattress that he blew himself, so that Cecilia and I could enjoy their bed. J gave me enough instruction on how to get to her home at Kepa Rd from the airport. As soon as we exited the terminal building and saw a bus called 'Air Bus' we knew that it was created to serve us :-). The fare to the city was NZ$ 13 per person, a bit pricey if you compare with Auckland's standard of living. For $ 6-7 you could eat a meal for two times. Yes, the food portion in Auckland is very generous, actually the same in Sydney and Melbourne. It is designed for hungry Indonesian students, so that for $ 13 allowance from mama or papa they can eat for a whole day.

Although the 'Air Bus' was an express airport to city bus (vice versa), it took about half an hour to reach the downtown area. We passed 'glass houses' suburb (J told me later) like One Tree Hill and Epsom. The property price in Epsom was sky-rocketed recently because it is located near Auckland's top university, AUT, Auckland University of Technology. The Kiwis (a name used by New Zealanders to call themselves) must know that some of the students' parents can buy houses like you and I buy camping tent. Yes, to those of you who don't know me yet, I own 5 tents. I would gladly share them with you though, at no charge. People bought houses there for either their children or to rent to the foreign students.

Thanks to my experiences in hearing different English accents I was able to communicate to the bus driver and asked him the bus number to get to Kepa Road from the downtown area. Auckland downtown or the city is not too big. The harbour was as beautiful as Sydney especially if the sun could smile at us. They boast they had more yachts per population than anybody else in the world, so they call Auckland a city of sails. We did see people sailing when we were in Sydney but not a single soul sailed in Auckland. "Winter," you said. Actually their winter is a joke, it was around 20C degree through-out our stay. I will share with you more about this 'funny winter' when we were in Melbourne and saw the latest teens' fashion (baring their bums).

You haven't known or learned about New Zealand until you stay at the Kiwis' homes. Actually this is a truth statement for visiting any country in the world. The best place to stay to know more about the place you visit is a 'home stay'. We spent the next 3 days chatting with our host and hostess as well as our other friends in various aspects of life. The only difference they have with us Canadians is in their English, which might become a strange language for most of you. What you call milk, in Auckland it's 'moo juice', from the sound of the producer. They are lucky that chicken doesn't have milk or else they have to say 'cock-a-doodle-doo juice'. Another unusual thing if you have never met or talked to an Australian or New Zealander is in how they address you. When they call you 'mate', they just like you and have no intention to make love or mate you. Also, don't be easily discouraged when they greet you in the morning and tell you that it is a good day to die :-). Enough kidding other people's English you said and I have to agree. The Canadians English is the purest in the world :-). They even speak with an accent in Britain.

By the time we were in Auckland, we have been to many places and used all kind of transportation but one. We have never rented a car since we left for Europe. Some of my friends told me that I am crazy enough to drive in Jakarta. It's even crazier to rent a car in Europe. I knew from the very first time we landed in Auckland, Cecilia was already 'sold' by the $ 25 a day car rental advertisement. Who would not? It promised unlimited mileage, insurance included. When I started to call a few, I realized that it was for the smallest and slowest car plus you have to rent it for several days to get that rate. However, since this journey is part of our 27th wedding anniversary celebration, I wouldn't want to jeopardize our 28th wedding anny plan. We found a car renting company that had a not-so-old Corolla (with 200K odometer reading) and reasonable insurance deductible for $ 65/day unlimited mileage. The rate would drop to $ 45/day had we rented it for 2 days. Most important, there was no additional charge for my wifey to drive that car too. We really had fun driving it back and forth to the Waitomo glowworm caves in the country side, 215 km south of Auckland. I will share with you our caving experience in the North Island of New Zealand in the next episode. Till then, goodbye mate.