New Zealand Fish Market Fail

Clark and Steve had some meetings with the church public affairs people today, and Sadie took off with some of the girls to have lunch and explore. So me, Dory and the boys were on our own. We decided to walk downtown and find the Auckland fish market. For some reason, I was navigating this little excursion – even though my sense of direction has always been terrible at best. Even with a map, we somehow ended up going the absolute longest route possible. By the time we finally found the fish market, I don’t think any of us even cared. We took a cursory glance around and made a beeline for something to eat. We found a swanky little restaurant on the boardwalk and paid an exorbitant amount of money for the best fish and chips I have ever tasted. We literally sighed with delight as we put the food in our mouths. 

Dorie and Brennan were kind enough to pose in front of this cool Maori inspired mural we found in a side alley at the fish market.

Just to prove that we made it.

Afterward, happy and sated, we got ice-cream cones from a shop on the wharf and walked to the bus station to meet our husbands and the students.

While we were sitting on a bench in this beautiful old bus station building with stained glass domed windows in the ceilings, some people came up to us and asked us to help them with an “amazing race” assignment they were given by their employers. Some sort of initiation into the company. They asked us to form a human train and walk around the lobby. Of course we did it. After all, what else did we have to do? 

Then we sat on the bench some more and played “I spy” and “20 questions” until Clark and Steve showed up with the group. The rest of the day was just some Cup O Noodles for dinner and watching a movie. We were pretty tired.

Some interesting things I have learned about New Zealand:

1. The sales tax is embedded in the price of everything. So instead of things costing a certain amount and then having the tax added in at the end of the purchase (which always causes a bit of irritation in the back of my mind), the price you see is always the final price. And generally, it is rounded to an even number so you don’t always have odd leftover change. This makes it very convenient. On the other hand, you don’t really know how much sales tax you are paying, so it would be easy to be lulled into a sense of complacency about how much the government is taxing its citizens. But who even thinks about that except weirdo Libertarians like me?
2. No tipping! Tipping is only used in cases of exceptional service above and beyond what is expected. I walked out of the restaurant yesterday feeling really strange about not leaving a tip, but apparently that’s the way it’s done here. I suppose they pay their people well enough so that they don’t have to rely on tips to make up for the sub-par wages. Something we should definitely consider in the United States.
3. They drive on the “other” side of the road. They were a British colony, after all. I considered getting a rental car occasionally for convenience, but the thought of trying to figure out how to drive here is just too scary. So the bus will have to do.