two americans not killed by dormant volcano

so, after a 3 hour delay at jfk, a 12 hour flight, a short stop in tahiti, a six hour flight, and multiple interrogations by new zealand customs officials (including a thorough check of the contents of all of my bags, a gander at my backup computer files, and a cleaning of the hiking boots i brought along), we finally made it to the home of the bruell's in st. heliers in the suburbs of auckland. most of the day was spent wandering around the waterfront, checking out the local shops, and chatting with jules, a friend of the bruells. this may seem pretty uneventful, but after spending nearly 20 hours sitting on airplanes, the sight of anything not beige was really a point of interest.

first second impressions: there's more grass and sky than i remember their being. the air smells of ocean salt, which is something i quite like. the auckland area has seen a huge amount of development in the past 12 years, and seems incredibly commercial compared to when i left in 1994. maybe i was just oblivious at the time, though.

Rangitoto is a party animal

here is where the avians like to party

rainbow count so far: 1