Arrival in Middle Earth

Disclaimer: Internet on phones here isn't the greatest and it's taking forever to load these photos, so they may have to come in a separate message. We arrived this morning in New Zealand after a12-hour flight that had us cross the international date line. During that long flight I slept a several hours (thank you, Benadryl!) watched Thor 2 and Sherlock series III, and generally tried to not be bothered by the fact that the short, rather wide South Asian (Indian?) woman sitting next to me was leaning her arm and shoulder into me for most of the flight. Once in Auckland, we picked up our rental car, got some snacks at the grocery store, and headed south, all the while trying not to be weirded out by the fact that we were driving on the wrong side of the road. No accidents so far (touch wood) but I can't tell you how many times I attempted to hit the turn signal and set off the windshield wipers instead! We were quickly out of the city and passing through rolling green farmland bordered by diverse vegetation, from the scrubby to the tropical. Although New Zealand is known for its sheep, we saw mainly cows, grazing in fields next to surprise cafes in the middle of nowhere. After a couple hours on the road, we arrived at our destination: the village of Te Aroha. The village is dominated by its namesake mountain that rises protectively behind it from the plains. We donned our sneakers and headed up the slope for a hike. Over the trail, tall trees with frothy heads that looked like ferns stuck on sticks swayed in the wind while redwoods anchored themselves into the ground. The hike culminated in a lookout with a spectacular view of the valley and the hills beyond. In the afternoon, we continued south (and I continued to mistake the windshield wiper switch for the turn signal) to the town of Rotorua, where we promptly took off our shoes, laid down for a brief rest, then took turns washing the airplane staleness out of our hair and off our skin. I firmly believe the hot shower is one of the top five greatest inventions of all time. It's now late and we've walked all over Rotorua and I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to sleeping in this hotel bed tonight. It feels like so long since I left the U.S., even though we've only been here a day. If today was any indication, this trip is going to be amazing.