Ok, so I know this isn’t about Australia but I have to cheat a little. I still wanted to blog about New Zealand and there was no point in creating a completely new one just for the trip. New Zealand is basically Australia’s little brother anyways.

I went to New Zealand with my friend Marjie and our plane left at 6:45 in the morning. So, we basically had four hours at home after Heron Island before we left for Brisbane International Airport.

When our flight landed in Auckland, we went to the rental car place to pick up the car. My 21st birthday couldn’t have had better timing considering it was this day and you’re not allowed to rent a car in New Zealand until you turn 21. It was quite scary driving on the wrong side of the road at first and I found myself often turning the windshield wipers on instead of the blinker.

We checked into our hostel and met another American checking into the hostel. She said she was from Rhode Island and then asked me where I was from. I told her I was from Connecticut. She then gave me a very puzzled look and said, “based on your accent I would’ve thought you were from the midwest”. I then explained to her that I was originally from Michigan but it was still good to hear that even after 10 years I still have my midwestern accent.

The weather was kind of bad but we decided to drive up to the top of a small mountain called Mount Eden in Auckland. There was a huge crater at the top and a nice view of the city even though it was a bit cloudy.

Marjie has family in Auckland so they took us out to dinner at a fancy seafood restaurant on the harbor. The food was delicious and it was fun to get to meet some locals.

After dinner, we went up to the sky tower and saw a beautiful view of the city at night. Unfortunately, none of my pictures came out well.

Then, since it was my 21st birthday, we went to a couple of bars and had a mini pub crawl celebrating my birthday even though the Kiwis didn’t care.