Auckland
Călin / 29 July 2022
And we made it!
After a 16 hours flight that moved us 41 hours ahead in time, we landed at Auckland International Airport! Robert was very gracious to offer us a ride and patient enough to wait more than an hour to get our luggage and go through the biological inspection. As an aside, passport control is fully electronic, and thus no lines! Not to mention that the border patrol officers were happy and smiling! By this time, there was no traffic in Auckland, so we got to our Airbnb very quickly.
We spent the next few days getting settled. For us, this included:
- getting a local phone number and data plan; while everything is connected and can be accessed through the web, phones are not just web portals – people still call and talk to each other more than in the US. I think this is great, as it does encourage a more personal interaction. However, most interactions require a local number. We ended up keeping our US phone numbers by transferring them to Google Voice (preserves texting capabilities, even though you have to use the app, as it does not forward to international numbers).
- activating our bank account; one can apply remotely for a bank account and transfer money into it, but to access the money, they will check ids and addresses in person. Once that’s done, everything happens online and preferentially mobile. At least for Bank of New Zealand, the mobile application has more features than their web site.
- applying for the tax id; no escaping the tax! New Zealand taxes world-wide income (just as the US), although we do qualify for a 4 year exemption, so we get to figure out things. Mind you, we still have to file in both countries, but New Zealand taxes only local income. After that, we’ll have to sort it out with both countries.
- applying for local drivers licenses; overseas licenses are valid for a year, and there is really no overhead for getting a local license (assuming you go to the AA office when it opens in the morning!). For a number of countries, US included, the rules are close enough that you only need to fill in the application and pass an eye exam. Local licenses are used as ids, which removes the need to carry and show your passport all the time. It also helps when registering for car share services, which is helpful to buy time until you invest in a car – public transport is excellent in Auckland, even though they tend to cancel a lot of out-of-hours buses due to lack of drivers.
- and of course, start looking for places to rent! Everything in New Zealand is to be found through Trade Me. Real estate agents will directly send you to search on Trade Me. So we defined our criteria, searched, and booked visits, all through Trade Me. In the process we got to meet a number of people, all very nice and friendly.
And of course, we keep marvelling at the rain, the sun, the clean air, the water, the rainbows, the boats, and the cosmopolitan spirit permeating the city. I suppose I could continue talking about the local experiences, but I will let the next set of pictures do the talking.
