Auckland - first week - 2

As I entered a waiting room in the airport, Artem was looking for me.

Important need-to-mention-to-make-it-clear. Artem and his wife Olga, later also their little cute girl Arina, were pretty much the only people I knew relatively well in New Zealand. We never met each other before, but kept in touch through e-mails as I adopted for a short time their wonderful dog, Yuki. When guys left Russia and settled down in New Zealand, they couldn't take Yuki with them. I heard their story on the forum and offered to take the dog for a certain time, so it could travel with Chiquita and me to NZ.
It was easy to see how much these guys love their pet, and Yuki is such a great one, it was pure pleasure for me and my friends, who met her in Helsinki.
Anyways, you heard the story, Chiquita had small problems with her tests and had to stay longer in Finland. However, Yuki has safely arrived to Auckland the same day as me.

As I said, we never met with Artem before and I was very much surprised with his looks. He looked like a real Nordic man with very blond hair and a face of a Scandinavian. I saw just a few men of Artem's looks in Sweden, never in Finland. So this is where Nordic people hide, in New Zealand :) fair enough, I mean far enough :)

Artem has kindly offered to pick me up from the airport and even took a day off from work. I felt very uncomfortable to bother him, but thinking afterwards, there is no chance I would manage myself alone with all the bags and being totally new to NZ.

As we talked in Russian with Artem, it didn't really feel like I was somewhere else, especially in NZ. However, the nature was pure dissonance. There were palms everywhere! And really huge ones. Last time when I saw palms was years ago, probably when we went to Sochi with family centuries ago. But those palms were kids compared to their kiwi relatives.
I mean sure, all this palm thing I'm crazy about might sound very silly, but I still can't get used to them. Real PALMS :)

We had a coffee and a small chat in Starbucks in the city when I found out that my European or Chinese adapters will not work in New Zealand. Why does every other place have different sockets I seriously wonder? Well, anyways, not a big deal, adapters are for sale in all small convenience shops around the city, 4 NZD/one.

After the coffee we went to pick up Olga and their daughter, and headed to the botanic park. Palms, palms everywhere again :)
Two strange things I noticed for the first time. 1st one - space. As Artem said Auckland is spread on a huge distance and so does everything else within it, I think. It looks very much like in American movies. A lot of space and it even seems a bit empty. If you've seen a typical park in Europe, it would be something small and compact. Here, well, every other park is a size of Europe ! With a little exaggeration, of course ;)
The second thing that surprised me was grass, it was yellow. You could also see yellow leaves all around. To me it looked autumn. Guys explained that it didn't rain for a few weeks, so everything dried. Auch.

Well, about the sun. What can I say: there is actually sun! I left Finland in the worst possible time for people who live there. Februaries are very cold and dark. You hardly ever get a chance to see sun. Here, in Auckland, the sun is very strong and you must wear sunscreen all the time. A hat is also recommended. Before I came to NZ I thought that 50 SPF was the strongest protection against sun, heh, saw 80+ around, you know ;)
Guys have recommended, by the way Neutrogena sunscreen. It was one of their excellent advice. This sunscreen is very effective, also it doesn't need to be rubbed into your skin, just spray it on, the thing is transparent.
As a matter if fact, I imagined sun to be much worse. Actually, I have never felt bad about it here so far even in the hottest days. It's quite good and livable in real life, just need to take care.

Botanic garden trip was very short as we received a call from quarantine that Yuki has arrived and we can come to visit her.
Guys were very nervous how she would react to them and if it was a good idea to show up and leave her again (Yuki had to stay for 10 days in quarantine). In the end they couldn't resist and we went all together.

When they opened the door and we saw Yuki, she looked hunt down and she didn't move towards us at first. Poor girl was scared and didn't know what was going on. But it took just a minute and she understood that everything was alright now, she recognized her owners and me too. The girl was so happy, so happy. My eyes get wet when I remember her face and her eyes. Oh Yuki, one of the best dogs I've ever met.
Conditions of the place where Yuki was staying were really good, her place was very clean, light, chill and with a lot of space. She even got a cool bed!
As I write this, we have visited her one more time after that, and she has felt excellent so far.
Guys at the Qualified Pet Service are real professionals!
http://www.qualifiedpet.co.nz/

It's really sad to write the whole dog story in the singular form. I miss Chiquita just terribly and can't wait to hug her here. This is just horrible that she had to stay in Finland for longer and we are apart :(

I will put tomorrow a few pictures to this and older posts (wifi doesnt work well) and will continue about Auckland and the actual life here so far. I take my time, you know.

Below is a picture from the Internet of Mount Eden. I'm moving to the house next to it on Monday.

Missing Chiquita,

Auckland