A blog and three bottles of wine

Here we sit, passing the computer around, 8:15, blasting music, three bottles of wine down, dinner made and eaten, in our own house.

...well kind of our own house... We have moved into the house that we will be house sitting for the next three weeks. 11 Seacliffe Avenue, Belmont, NZ 0622. (Feel free to send us all the love and packages you would like for the next three weeks) Everyone has unpacked their bags and taken over a room, spread their things out, and started to be settled for the first time this trip.

Monday was back into the city for us. We had to head to downtown to meet Jan (the woman whose house we are watching.) Anna test drove our first car, (almost dying only twice), made our way back to see the house we are now living at, and making our way back to the Mulholland household before we got caught running home in the dark to make it home.

Auckland City is a lot like Seattle. The conversation has been had a few times so far about how strange it is moving out of the suburbs of a city that is SO much like the city that we are moving in to. Life here is a lot like it is in Seattle, but as if we were living right downtown... and with a bit of a English twist; Tea all the time, hanging out with mates, and accents we have to strain to catch sometimes. Auckland from the Ferry

Tuesday we woke up with high expectations- renting a car, getting a few hours out of the city to go hiking and swimming in the ocean, and staying at a hostel. We failed MISERABLY. ....... so to the beach we went. We hung on the beach, read magazines, walked around the town, and made our way back to the Mulholland household for dinner. They took such good care of us. (mother, your good deeds are being passed on, and we are on the other end of everything.)

Wednesday we headed to Rangitoto, an island off the mainland of Auckland, the youngest volcano in the region; only 600 years old. We packed lunch and a bottle of wine of course, and headed upward to the summit. At the top, we met three women- one from Victoria, Canada- one from Manhatten, New York- and the last from Scotland. All of our friends from New Zealand so far are from out of the country. Friendship requests are happening daily though. Whenever our phone rings... we know it has to be one of the three adult friends we have saved in our cellphone. (In other words, we're getting too popular in this country.) It was though, our first successfully planned day thus far. From wake up to arriving home, we did everything right. Caught the correct buses, ferries, walked the right directions, and came home without a single hitch. SOLID. Exploring the Lava Caves

College Day at the Volcano

Thursday we moved into Jan's house. Mother Debbie Mulholland (happily) dropped us off at our new place of residence, hugged us goodbye, and sped away. I think they were ready to have us out of their house. Later that night after dropping off our bags, we went to a taping of a NZ television show called 7Days back downtown Auckland. (the program recaps the last 7 days in news/pop culture and a panel of comedians comment/joke about clips taken from the past week. The son of the Mulholland family worked for the station and hooked us up with tickets)Preparing to Enjoy the 7Days showing...behind a car downtown Auckland... Money can't buy class.

We slept in today, caught up on emails, resumes (CV's they're called here) and unpacked our things. We took the bus into town to grab groceries....and made our way home for this dinner/drinking/blogging event.

We miss you all.... kind of... like how you would miss your parents if you they were leaving town when you were in high school and you had a big fat party planned in a few days... not that we ever did that.

Love.
Jackie, Anna, and Alissa.