I'd put the maori word for greetings in the title, but I don't know it, and that's just too pretentious for me

Hello from New Zealand!
We arrived at midnight two days ago, right in time for us to serenade Jessica "happy birthday" from the airport terminal. She informed me she's still accepting happy birthday's because technically, it's her birthday in the States and will be for awhile.

So we stayed in Auckland the first night. We made some excellent friends with our roommates seeing as how we woke them up at 2 in the morning entering the pitch black room and running into things. They loved us. We got up early the next day, grabbed our rental car, then drove down to Lake Taupo where Jessica went bungee jumping.
That's right.
It was her and a bunch of Asian tourists. Maggie and I watched. I generally don't like things that make me think I could possibly die. It's not fun for me. I got Jessica's bungee on video. I would love to post it up, but I need to download it on Maggie's computer, and so far there are no places that have free wireless in New Zealand. I'm typing this old school at an Internet cafe.

So Jessica bungeed (is that a word) and then we drove around the lake, which is gorgeous. it's huge, clear, and it has mountains surrounding it. There's one that still has snow on it. It was a nice day temperature wise. We went out for Indian food that night, then relaxed in our room. I think she enjoyed it. It was a good day.

Today we're heading to some forest that Maggie can't remember the name of, or can't pronounce, or both. I can't pronounce anything here. Names of places in New Zealand are either super British or Maori, the latter being extremely difficult on the tongue. I've been here one day and already have embarrassed myself while asking for directions. fun.

Ok, so just wanted to update you all so far. new Zealand is beautiful. It's very lush and green. No fire danger over here, as opposed to Australia, where every firehouse we passed had the warning on high. We even passed a few fires on our road trip down the coast. You get the picture.

All right, I'm off. I'm still in hopes of finding Bret of Jemaine roaming about, even though they're probably in LA. Here's to my dreams coming true...

-Angela
PS. it's now hailing here. Not bad hail. cute hail.