I finally made it to Auckland from Fiji.  Fiji was very beautiful, but I went at a pretty bad time - recent flooding, local holiday, and bad weather from a tropical storm.  I got picked up from the airport by a van going to the hostel I was staying at, which already had 4 aussie and 2 german girls in it.  The driver offered me the front seat, so I quickly walked around to the right side of the bus, only to realize they drove on the other side of the road.  I walked back around and got in just in time to see all the girls laughing at me.  American moment #1.  The hostel I stayed at was full of backpackers midway through year long journeys.  It was only day 2 and I was envious that I couldn't travel for as long as them.  I got to chat with a lot of them and get some tips about New Zealand, Thailand, and Nepal - it seemed that everyone there was either coming from or going to NZ and had been to Thailand at some point, so I picked up tons of advice.

The weather cleared up for a day and I got to go to a island about an hour offshore and go snorkeling, where I've never seen such brightly colored fish.  Afterwards I just stood on the beach and walked around the island.  As I stood there, looking back at the main island, I realized how stupid it was that I was so blessed to be where I was.  

Yeserday, my flight to Auckland got canceled, with the next flight leaving the next morning.  Thankfully the company comp'd me a hotel with 3 free meals.  It was a nice hotel, but I was pretty much stranded there for the day - all day trips had already left and I was too sunburn (a snorkeling goggle pattern imprinted on my forehead) to stand a chance outside.  I was pretty bummed until Father of the Bride part 2 came on, and after Franck sang "every party has a pooper, that's why we invited you, George Baaanks," I felt much better.

I had a really good time while I was there.  I felt forced into feeling like I had to explore and go everywhere and do everything, but realized that I don't have to do anything.  I sat at the beach for a very long time and enjoyed it a lot.    The Fiji word for hello and welcome was "Bula," which sounds an awful lot like "hola."  Every single person said bula to everybody, which the tourists and their kids absolutely loved.    I found myself almost saying, "hola como estas" for the first two days, but got over it.  All in all, it was good to see a bit of the country, but I don't think I enjoyed it enough to go back any time soon.

It looks like Dustin and I are going to try to head south to Rotorua tomorrow, followed by Taupo, then Wellington.  We did a quick rundown of Auckland today, which is a beautiful town, and tried to convince a girl from Boston to quit her job at a pizza joint and join us for a few weeks.  We're still waiting for her to call us back.  Now we need to figure out how best to explore the south island, but we'll figure it out as we go.  Maybe we'll find Dustin a job along the way...