Touchdown in New Zealand

I made it (as most of you are already aware).  Despite the length of time it takes to make such a trip, it was uneventful, thankfully!  It had once again slipped my mind to make sure I knew how to get to my hotel.  I booked a bus from the airport but didn't know if it would drop me at my hotel or if I needed to figure out the closest point and walk (every city is different and I probably should have researched these details beforehand so that my jet-lagged brain didn't have to work so hard).  As it happened, God sent me a nice young Chinese man on the bus to help me out.  He gave me his bus map and showed me where I needed to get off.  He was the same age and also doing the Working Holiday Visa.  A couple beside us over heard our conversation and told me of a possible job opportunity opening up in Christchurch in May.  I think sometimes we have our lives so planned out that we never give God a chance to show us how He's looking out for us.  Despite not knowing if this tip will pan out it was encouraging.

Auckland, New Zealand

As I had imagined, Australia and New Zealand are similar in many ways.  A lot of the chains I knew in Australia are also here in NZ, such as Harvey Normans, Woolworths (although they call it Countdown), Jay Jays, Bunnings Warehouse, etc. so it makes it feel less foreign.  I've also come to realize that I can't tell the Aussie accent from the Kiwi one - at least not yet.  My first full day had me setting up my bank account and getting my debit card, purchasing a phone plan and getting a mobile number, applying for my IRD (tax number to be able to work), and the like.  Not much excitement, but I'll finish this out with some trivia for you --

1. What is New Zealand's highest mountain (either the Maori or English name is fine)?
2. Name the largest city in New Zealand.
3. What is the capital of New Zealand?
4. What sea lies between Australia and New Zealand (hint: it's a variation of the name of an Australian state)?
5. Name the country's international rugby team.
6. What does the Maori name of New Zealand - Aotearoa mean?
7. It is one of the three countries in the world that has two official national anthems of equal standing.  One is "God Defend New Zealand", what is the other?

1.  Mount Cook or Aoraki
2.  Auckland
3.  Wellington
4.  Tasman 
5.  All Blacks
6.  Long White Cloud
7.  "God Save the Queen"