The New Zealand Experience - October 31st, 2006

1901.
1878.
1913.
There's got to be an earlier date. I walked up to the next one hoping that this would be the one to end the search. I had already been looking for an hour; and with the help of a teammate even. Frieda and I had covered a lot of territory, but just by the way things were going, I knew it would probably be a while yet. 1935. Yup; it's going to be a while yet.

One Hour Earlier:

The two RVs pulled up to the curb. Grabbing our gear, we piled out of the vehicles and gathered in a circle.

"Alrighty. Here's the scoop for the afternoon," Will said; and then proceeded to explain the afternoon's activities. We were to spend the rest of the day learning travel survival in downtown Auckland. This would be done by doing a scavenger hunt which would teach us how to get around, read maps, ask questions, etc. while getting to see the area. We were paired off into teams, handed a list to complete and told to meet at Aotea Square at precisely half past four.

Frieda and I got together to look over the list of things we had to complete. That's when I realized the IPS instructors had a quirky sense of humor. The first destination was a cemetery.

So here I was, an hour later in the cemetery trying to complete our project there. We had to find the oldest tombstone and photograph it. And so far, the earliest year we had spotted was 1868. Surely people in New Zealand had died before then. Hadn't they?

A second hour passed by. I had just found a tombstone with my name on it (yeah, pretty freaky :-)), when Frieda called out that she'd found an earlier date. 1857. At that moment, if anyone had asked me who my hero was I would have immediately named Frieda. Her discovery meant that at last we could leave this place and finish our six other projects. Praise the Lord for team members.

The final hour was spent in a mad rush to complete our mission. We took pictures of the tallest building in Auckland; Sky Tower. We walked over to Albert Park and photographed the beautifully manicured landscaping. On our way to another destination we came across St. Paul's Cathedral and couldn't pass up the shot. Everything we saw was new, exciting, and colorful. It was too hard to avoid going trigger happy.

We somehow managed to complete our assignments with a few minutes to spare. Not wanting to waste the time remaining, I suggested we go into the store most essential for travel survival: Starbucks. With a Starbucks coffee in your hand, how could you end the day's activities any better? :-)

—Luisa Taylor from California, USA

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