Arrival in New Zealand

New Zealand is 23 hours ahead of Hawaii. We boarded our plane on Friday morning and arrived Saturday evening!



Exiting onto the tarmac gave us a sense of how big our 787 really was





The airport terminal was impressive - and presented a dizzying array of duty free options before we even made it to passport control. We purchased our Vodafone SIM cards before we pulled out our passports! Passport control was really easy - we just inserted our passports into a kiosk, answered one single question about whether or not we have ever been in jail, and then the kiosk printed a ticket that we inserted into the exit stalls that also took our picture. Almost as easy as passing through a subway gate.

The more complicated part was the biosecurity control - being an island, New Zealand is very cautious about the pests that could be brought into the country. We had to declare our hiking shoes and camping gear, and we were diverted into a secondary control area so someone could inspect our tent. Curiously, the officer was more interested in the tent itself and didn't bother looking at the ground sheet - we suspect he was looking for bugs that might have been trapped inside. What he didn't know is that Neil hasn't used his tent since 2014!

Once we made it out of the airport, we hopped onto the SkyBus shuttle, which has a stop directly in front of our hotel downtown.

Fun facts about our hotel:
- the light switches are backwards from what we're used to: flipping the switch down turns the lights on
- the room description said a coffee/tea maker is included - instead of a coffee percolator, we have a kettle and a french press, along with packets of ground coffee, hot chocolate and many different types of tea!

Air New Zealand - amazing!

Our Boeing 787 is easily the fanciest plane (and probably the largest) I have ever been on.  The window shades were electric and you could tint the windows. Music played in the bathroom and the lighting made it seem like a nightclub.  The touch screens were super modern.

The safety video was the most entertaining one I've seen. Additional versions of their safety videos were also available to watch, including a Hobbit version. Lots of New Zealand information on offer as well, from slideshows about road rules and local tv shows ("Shearing Gang", about the life of New Zealand sheep shearers, was awesome).

The touchscreens also contained a hilarious chat feature - which would have been pretty useful if we weren't sitting right next to each other

And we treated ourselves to some slightly upgraded seats, so we could turn our seats into a couch of sorts. It came with a full set of instructions and a separate package of seatbelts so you could sprawl out and still technically be belted in.  A little frivolous perhaps, but also pretty awesome.

MinuteMaid? Not in Hawaii!

After Hal's talk, the general audience was ushered out into the courtyard and entertained with drinks and food while the committee gets into the technical questioning. Everyone is also holding leis, ready to celebrate when Hal emerges!

Soaking in the local culture

What to do while staying in campus at the University of Hawaii surrounded by grad students? Attend a doctoral defense!
Fun fact #1: All committee members appear to be wearing Hawaiian shirts.
Fun fact #2: Apparently, after the defense is over (and successful), Hal will be draped with many leis per local tradition

Errands, Waikiki, and acai bowls

We ran a few errands today to prep for New Zealand. When we first arrived, we asked Brendan where to go to find some of the things we still needed. The answer: online. And it's true, the in-store selection here is not as abundant as anywhere on the mainland (except, of course, for pineapple, banana and papaya!).

We also strolled through the touristy beach and streets of Waikiki and then stopped at Diamondhead Health Bar for acai bowls.

Waikiki

Acai bowls: acai base (frozen puree, like a sorbet) topped with granola, dried coconut, fresh fruit, and honey. Top bowl also contains a scoop of taro and a sprinkle of hemp seed. Bottom bowl was 1/2 acai and 1/2 dragonfruit. We need to figure out how to make these when we return home!