American observations of the land of New Zeal

Things are different here. -collective gasp- I know. I was shocked too. Here are a few things that I have noticed in the last 8 hours. 

1. We hire things like cars and suits now. We do not rent them.

2. We're driving on the left side of the road. I know I did this in Thailand, but my brain freaks out every time I stand at an intersection and watch people turn into "wrong" lanes. I just try not to scream and cover my eyes in horror. 

3. iSites are awesome and are officially my new best friends. They will book anything for you just because you ask them to. I hope they never find out that I'm just using them for their sweet connections. 

4. There are roofs of every variety. Metal, tile, flat, sloped, terra cotta, falling in... It's not super different per se, just fun to see the smorgasbord. 

5. Fire trucks look like dump trucks. And they say something about biohazards on them. I don't know, but it seems like maybe these fire professional are a little cooler than ours. I mean if you're in that crazy anti-fire suit already why not clean up a little flesh-eating green ooze while you're at it eh?

6. Everybody seems to know each other. I caught at least 5 interactions on my walk this afternoon, from high fives to enthusiastic head bobbles to support this. It's pretty neat.

7. We've got tomato sauce. Not Catsup. It tastes...saucy. That is sweet and perhaps a little slimy. Not a big fan.

8. Everybody is super nice. I haven't met a single kiwi that I have not liked yet. May that always be so. 

Tomorrow morning I'm taking off at the booty crack of dawn and start my voyage to Napier and the farm. A day in the city was enough for me. It's time for the comfort of green hills and livestock...yep. I said it. Onward!