The Business Trip of a Lifetime ...

Way back in January I was negotiating my contract for my second year in Japan when I got the invitation to go to New Zealand and Australia with a group of professors and principals on the business trip of a lifetime, thus far at least. I mean, I know that the trips to Des Moines and that one weekend in Atlantic (was that even the name of that town?) and Chicago were all great business trips, but this one actually required a passport and some literacy celebrities. I was so excited I quickly signed my second year contract right on the dotted line.

I really have no idea where to start blogging about this trip. The thousand pictures, five hundred stories and twelve videos are a little overwhelming, but avoidance clearly isn't working so I'll make an honest attempt.

The details of the trip are as follows:

- August 21st - August 31st

- 3 days in New Zealand (Auckland and Wellington)

- 7 days in Australia (Sydney and Brisbane)

- traveling through Korea (Seoul)

- a total of 7 flights & 2 express trains

- 16 people (13 Japanese, 3 Americans)

- somewhere around 30 pieces of luggage

- & a pretty strict work schedule

So, here we go...

We landed in Auckland, New Zealand after an overnight flight from Korea (and after about 24 hours of traveling) and we had enough time to drop our luggage off at the President's Hotel, change clothes and make our way to our first meeting.

I wasn't joking about the luggage.

Baggage claim was always eventful.:

We were SO excited to have finally landed, even though we were all a little tired:

New Zealand money is so much cooler (& smaller) than American money:

After exiting the airport we realized just how cold it was in August in New Zealand. I knew that it was going to be winter, but having spent the last 4 weeks in the summer heat of Iowa and then being back in Japan for a couple short days (HOT, short days) I had forgotten what winter felt like. It wasn't December in Iowa cold, but it felt like it in comparison to the 100 degree, 95% humidity Japanese summer the day before. And it was raining. Not exactly the 'Welcome to New Zealand' whether we were hoping for, but nothing could taint our excitement.

We were in Auckland for literally 24 hours. We spent our first (and only) Auckland afternoon in a meeting and the evening out to dinner together as a group. We went out for drinks after dinner, back to the hotel to sleep a little & up in the morning to do some 'sightseeing' (around the hotel) before leaving for the airport around noon. Ridiculously short, I know, but we had to, in the words of Tim Gunn, "make it work". So we did.

Our driver from the airport to the hotel took us on a mini tour of Auckland and offered lots of 'facts' that Daniel wasn't so sure about. :) He was entertaining nonetheless. He took us to the Waitemata Harbour and showed us the Auckland Harbor Bridge. Obviously not my favorite site to see, but I didn't cry. Thankfully.

And we got a view of the CBD (Central Business District):

& Wellington Tower (because everywhere we go has to have some sort of tower):

Across the street from our hotel was this crazy bungy apparatus. Everyone knows about bungy jumping and it's popularity in the 90's, but did you know that, "Commercial bungee jumping began with the New Zealander, A J Hackett, who made his first jump from Auckland's Greenhithe Bridge in 1986?" Yea, neither did I. And, "during the following years Hackett performed a number of jumps from bridges and other structures (including the Eiffel Tower), building public interest in the sport, and opening the world's first permanent commercial bungee site; the Kawarau Bridge Bungy at Queenstown in the South Island of New Zealand" (WP). So basically everything & anything in New Zealand has some sort of bungy jumping component and things like this are found on every other block:

Although no one in our group was hip to bungy jumping or bungy-ing whatever that other thing was, they were interested in Auckland Tower. Of course they were. You can read all about it here, if it in fact interests you: Auckland Sky Tower

Auckland Tower from the ground, where I like to stay:

And, of course, you can bungy jump from the top of it.

No one was really interested in that either. :

On our one free morning, excuse me - 3 free hours, in Auckland we went to Queen Street, named after Queen Victoria, which is famous for it's shopping, architecture, and all around Auckland vibe. We ate breakfast, mostly as an escape from the rain, but then decided to battle the storm and make the most of our limited time. We did make it to the famous All Blacks Rugby shop, which was on the top of my list, but it was cold, windy & rainy. Not the best weather by any means.

What most of our shopping adventure looked like:

That's right, 7 pictures from our sightseeing in Auckland. I couldn't even give the city a fair shot, but business-wise, it was so good. I'll blog about that next.

much love,

-tara-

xx