Touchdown in NZ

After long, but uneventful plane rides and a wonderfully rejuvenating day in San Francisco with my sister Debbie, I arrived in Auckland at 5am local time. While waiting for the 6am airport-city bus, I met some seemingly young Brits on their GAP year and a man from Charlotte, NC who abandoned his working wife and 27 year old son to travel around NZ for a month. To pass the time until the Auckland Museum -- my stopover activity -- to open, I walked around until I found an adorable cafe and ordered my first of many $3.50 teas.
A few observations about Auckland: (i) Starbucks is cheaper than most cafes, (ii) kiwis where scarves and down jackets in 50F weather, (iii) pedestrians stop for crosswalk signals, and (iv) for what is considered an 'active' country, people seemed shocked that I would want to walk the 3 miles to the museum instead of taking the bus.