Dunedin Pic Spam

Still fighting off the teensiest bit of jet lag, but I AM HERE AND IT IS BEAUTIFUL. The plane ride over was wonderful (I cannot recommend Air New Zealand enough), and I made it to my friends' house in Dunedin on the 29th (lost a day in travel after crossing the international date line). I've mostly been running around doing errands/at home hanging out with dogs for the past few days, and it is glorious.

This bit of Hobbit-ness greeted me upon arrival in Auckland, right about the time I was cursing my bags and vowing that next time I move internationally I'm going to sell everything and then replace it when I get there to avoid having to wrangle about 175 pounds of stuff between four bags.

I arrived about an hour early, breezed through customs, made it over to the domestic terminal, and was able to change my flight to Dunedin to an earlier, direct one. There were a handful of small birds hanging out in the domestic terminal, flitting about and being adorable:

Landed, was picked up by a friend, and proceeded to run errands in town before heading out the peninsula to their home. The flowers here are glorious, and it isn't even fully Spring yet!

Took the dogs for a walk at the nearby Memorial Seat, a washout that was reclaimed and planted with native flora and fauna.

Tuckered out pups.

Black swans!

Woke up the next morning to this.

View out the front door. More cars than usual, as a DreamWorks movie starring Michael Fassbender and Rachel Weisz is filming about two blocks down.

My friends have dubbed these trees across the bay Fred and Ginger.

Around cocktail hour we ran across the street to a friend's boat shed for a glass of wine. Joined by a cheeky seagull.

Today is another glorious day, except for the parts when it's been pouring buckets.

And some more dog walking.

Now, off to put on a costume to go to the Dunedin Musicians Club for a Halloween show!