ENJOY your chance of a lifetime!!!

Trout fishing.

Last time I checked, folks in IT were on the short list for residency. Find a hobbit bride and raise some sheep.
 

See if your boss will let you take a few days/week off before returning.

National Geographic refers to New Zealand to as Australia's ugly sister. A quick check of the CIA World Fact book states that its main exports are sheep and butter. This combination is often called Greecian love slave after import policies of classical Athens. New Zealand has provided a safe zone for international criminal Yahoo Serious. This has caused substanial tension in the Hague. Fortunately, President Obama has apologized several times.

 

Drink the wine...they make good Pinot Noir!

I leave Friday to AKL... Layover in HNL, nice half way point.

Oh well, bad luck If you are stuck in Auckland you are missing out on all the good bits.

Try and get down to the South Island if you can.

Auckland is a nice little city (by International standards) but nothing special.
So nice places to drink/eat/etc but you could be anywhere in the world when you are in a city of a certain size.

For something 'NZ' you'll have to get out of the city itself.
Depends on the time you have, rental cars can be had pretty cheap.

Try stalking Lucy Lawless!

Make sure you buy a set of galoshes / wellington boots 2 sizes bigger than your shoe size and a set of velcro gloves.

Oh yeah, and bear this in mind : (old study, but relevant)

Kiwi Women have more sex

According to a global survey on market research website onepoll.com, New Zealand women are the most sexually experienced in the world, with an average of 20.4 sexual partners in a lifetime, more than any other nationality.

Comedian Michele A'Court thinks the findings prove New Zealand women are more honest than those in other countries.

In the US, for example, some young women proudly proclaim their virginity, despite engaging in non-penetrative sex acts, she says. "Without making myself sound like a slapper, my initial reaction is that 20.4 doesn't sound like a huge amount over a lifetime."

Sexologist Dr Michelle Mars puts the result down to the failings of Kiwi blokes.

"New Zealand men aren't very good at picking up women unless they're really drunk. So what tends to happen is in New Zealand, women are just as likely to ask men to have sex as men are to ask women.

I have been there a couple of times. It is a great country and the natives are very friendly. Food is just ok in my book, unless you get to the coast a get fresh seafood. Great hikes, fishing and hunting. A short hop from Aukland is Rotorua. The sheep show there is pretty good. The bay of islands is cool if you like the ocean and islands.

Make sure you congratulate them on how good they are doing with their sheep. If they keep it up they may surpass Australian quality! (Then duck!)

I took a vacation there a couple years ago.  Stayed in Auckland took a tour out to Hobbiton and the Waitomo Glowworm Caves.  Had dinner in the Space Needle like building.

It was the most beautiful place I've ever been.  I would sell everything I own and move there for good if I could.

Great beer and food at Mac's Brewbar

Please bring me back a six pack Mac's Spring Tide.

Have fun!

Yeah don't think the gf would appreciate that...

Now what do I do with it?

We'll see I'll likely have a day or two, but this definitely a business trip, not a holiday ;)

Spent several weeks in Auckland a several years ago playing football. It's an amazing place. Gorgeous. Some pointers

- seafood is amazing
- rotorua was pretty interesting. The glow worm cave is unreal
- I would avoid anything called "mutton". To an American mutton means not a lamb. To a kiwi mutton means "died of natural causes"
-don't drive. Taxi is safer. Left hand driving is fing hard.
-go see the allblacks. Just do it. We got to hang out with the all blacks and played a showcase game with them. I have never seen people treated more like rock stars in my life. Even in the NFL and actual rock stars. The country loves the all blacks. Ps, they are not all black either. Which was somewhat of a surprise when I met them.
-fishing there is Amazing, so is hunting.
-go watch some rugby
-hit some local pubs
- NO mutton
- kiwis can drink like nobody's business.be careful, they'll kill you.you'll be the floor and they'll be singing
- they LOVE being asked if they know crocodile Dundee.They love it.ask about him all the time
- they also love being compared to Australians.They love it.
- go see a maori village or see the maori so the haka
- learn to pronounce maori
- understand haka etiquette before you go


I love New Zealand.love. It's an amazing place,I wish I could live there

Hmm, not staying only in Auckland apparently I'll be flying around, should be Wellington for a day or two.

I've been there a bunch.  GF lives there.

Sooo.  What to say.  Like everyone has been saying the people are super nice.  The dairy products are off the hook!  Cream, ice cream, etc. Everything is expensive except lamb and green lipped mussels.  Gas is 8$ a gallon, yada.

Auckland we refer to as "suckland".  Just another city.  If you drive north or south you will be a JAFA, "Just Another Fucking Aucklander."  :)  If you have the time get out of the city.  North or south, you can't go wrong with scenery.  Tons of touristy stuff or just the prettiest coastlines you ever saw.  Visit a funstore just to gawk at the suppressors.  If you drink or smoke bring your own, both are crazy expensive there.  

Be careful of small town bars that aren't really on the map.  Things can go sideways there in a funny way.  The place is still a frontier in a lot of ways outside the major cities.

Pussy. Toughen up and get used to it. Just 'cause it's got a little flavor, you don't like it.



IMHO it's hard to beat a good leg of mutton, cooked right. Kiwis eat mutton like yanks eat burgers.



Before you get drunk with a bunch of Maoris, make sure you are all on the same team.

They can, and will, fuck your shit up.

Properly.
 

Oh I'll wear the pussy label with pride if it gets me out of eating mutton. That stuff is inedible!

True story about the Maori though..We went drinking with them, we WERE on their team, and still left missing a couple teeth. They lost a collar bone and an ulna though so it was about even lol.

We got in a "America football players are pussies cause pads", discussion. We settled it but at pretty heavy cost

If it's any way humanly possible, try to ride the Northern Explorer train from Aucks down to Welly.

Queenstown



Riding a chopper to the top of a glacier to drink champagne









Auckland

When in Wellington you could visit Te Papa, they have the Brittan bikes there at the moment!

Flights are all booked and out of my hands...

I get in late Saturday, spend the night, head back to the airport and take the flight to Wellington. I should have most of the rest of the day free in Wellington, then it's off to work on Monday. Fly back to Auckland late Tuesday. Work work work. Should have Saturday free in Auckland, likely flying home Sunday unless I need to stay longer in to the following week.

Wow you can do an inline image here, interesting.

I'm just going to pretend I don't know what you do with your galoshes, mr velcro gloves

One of the things I do want to do is hit up the Auckland Zoo. I should have my T5i w/ probably the 17-55mm f/2.8 to walk around. Will hopefully get to use it a little bit.

The Dominion museum is well worth visiting.
Peter Jackson has created a WWI display there. http://www.greatwarexhibition.nz/



Nice thing about Wellington is it is a small city, so very easy to get around.
Lots of bars, restaurants, etc. Depending on where you are staying.

IM me if you need/want anything in Wellington.

PM me when back in Auckland.  First beers on me

I will get there before I die.

Brown trout on a fly and I'll persue a red stag with my mathews.

I had a great day in Wellington.  Certainly a much more interesting place to be than Auckland.  

I'm trying to think of anything you can go see within a short drive of Auckland that would be worth your time,  but I honestly only spent four nights in Auckland out of my month trip,  so most of my entertainment was well out of town.  

Can you take me with you?  

Yeah they have fucking TATER TOT crust Pizza from Pizza hut.... Bastards..

The GF is quite jealous, but with a weeks notice, time off and 2500-3000 for rt flights, that put things off, we'll come back to that part of the world someday.

That sounds.... Beautiful. Do they have it with mutton?

I used to go to Christchurch about a dozen times a year for 15 years and miss it terribly.

Beautiful country, very friendly people, and a much more relaxed lifestyle.

Enjoy your trip.

That's one trip I would like to make.

Piha beach and Lion Rock are like an hour west of Auckland.

I think Lewis Black said it best:

"I went to New Zealand this year, and... whew, man. I know a lot of people who want to go there, but let me tell you it was 22 hours by plane. So if you have the opportunity... don't. You don't want to be on a plane for more than 8 hours. 22 hours is like a stress test that's out of control. You're locked in there, the treadmill's going, you got wires everywhere. "Where's the fucking nurse?! Where's the fucking nurse?!" You want to know what it's like to be on a plane for 22 hours? Go home, sit in a chair, and squeeze your head as hard as you can. Don't stop. Don't fuckin' stop. Then take a paper bag, put it over your mouth and nose, and breathe your own air over and over and over and over and over and over. Now, they say that you should fly first-class. Well, that doesn't fuckin' help. So the chair is comfortable, you're still squeezing the fuck out of your head. Now, if you're in coach... kill yourself. What you want to do is when you've finally have snapped, walk back to one of the bathrooms, go in, put your head in the toilet, and flush it. The suction is such that your head will be ripped right off because you're better off literally traveling with your head in toilet water than spending more than 8 or 9 hours in coach. Who do you think designed the coach seats on an airplane? I think it's a guy with scoliosis who is really pissed. "Goddamn it, this is the most comfortable chair ever! I don't know what they're bitchin' about! This is perfect!" What they should do, I think just take all the coach seats out of the planes and give everybody a 5-foot stick. That way, you can sit wherever you want. You just take it, shove it up your ass, spin around. When you get bored, then after 12 hours, you can just beat the shit out of each other.

The airlines try to distract you. They bring you food, food, liquor, liquor, food, liquor, liquor, food, food... cognac! They offered me cognac! I don't even drink cognac, so I said, "Fire that son of a bitch up and throw it at my head!" Then they show you a movie, then they show you another movie, and when all that's done, there's still 14 hours to fuckin' go!

If the people of New Zealand want to be a part of our world, I believe they should hop off their islands and push them closer. Now, they say that New Zealand is beautiful, and I do not know... because after 22 hours on a plane, any land mass would be beautiful. "

If you can record a real Haka and post it, half of GD will jizz itself.

Advice from the expert per chance

That Queenstown looks like a beautiful place. Imagine living there

Are you trying to say an "Aussie" knows more about boots than the Kiwis? I'm confused now...

It's summer down there. You'll love it.

Flight time

The rest will be awesome.

He's a Baaaaaaaaaaaad Man

Queenstown is gorgeous, I spent a week there and will go back the first chance I get.  Not sure what it is about the accent but I loved listening to the women.  Even the crazy horse chick looked hot after listening to her talk.  

Flyfishing.