Auckland can't come soon enough!

The trip to Auckland is now just seven days away, and fortunately for me, it really couldn't come at a better time. You see, it turns out that the lovely folks at the Department of Immigration aren't done giving me the run around, and I kinda sorta need to vacate the country for a bit.

It started a few weeks ago. I received a letter from Immigration that stated that my sponsored visa -- the one that I was on with my previous employer -- was about to expire. "Not a problem," I thought. "I already sorted that out in April when I went to the US and reentered the country on a tourist visa. They must have sent this by accident."

Yeeeeaaaahhh, it was no accident. Two Fridays ago, I got a call from a woman at Immigration, who was clearly miffed that I had not heeded her letter and was still in the country. I protested: "But I switched to a tourist visa in April!" Sadly, she clarified, based on a technicality that I won't explain here (and that no one had bothered to explain to me!), I wasn't on the tourist visa for which I had applied, for which I had been granted approval, and for which the Australian government had happily taken my application fee.

"Balderdash!," I thought.* "What shall I do now?" I complained. I started to get a little short. And then paranoia crept over me as I began to picture the Australian Federal Police closing in on my position, Minority Report-style. Were they using this phone call to triangulate my location???

*No, that word didn't actually go through my head. I can't remember my exact thoughts in the moment, although I'm guessing they were more of the obscene variety. But I like that word: balderdash. Good word. Underrated. I don't think I'm using it correctly, but whatever, it sounds like a good, non-offensive expletive. So to very roughly paraphrase U2,** it's a word that obscurity -- or perhaps just good sense? -- stole from society, and I'm stealing it back!

**Coming on the heels of my last post, guess I'm really into "very roughly paraphrasing" these days. And is that redundant, to "roughly paraphrase" someone?

A minute or two into moaning and griping, I realized there was a relatively easy solution at hand: I was shortly going to Auckland! Why not use that opportunity to get off this cursed sponsored visa once and for all and reenter the country on a Work and Holiday Visa, which means (as the name might suggest) that I can actually work? I presented this solution to the woman, and she seemed happy with it. Done and done!

So! Come next Tuesday, armed with the Wallpaper City Guide Auckland,* I fly out and spend five days in and around the city.

*I won't bore you with another entire post on guide books -- and anyway, I have neither the time nor the inclination -- but as you may recall, I also opted for a Wallpaper guide book for my trip to Melbourne last year. I decided to go with it again for this trip, although after looking back at my own thoughts on the Melbourne book, I'm beginning to wonder why in the wide world of sports I went with it for this trip too. Besides the fact that the book is pretty, I found it to be useless! Limited information... inadequate maps... food and entertainment options that are completely out of my price range... you name it. Yet I was suckered into buying it again!! Ahhhh, the beauty and temptation of a well-packaged product.

Don't have much idea what I'll be doing quite yet -- I'm hoping (pretty please?) that Wallpaper will help me out there, although I'm also staying with a distant relative who can point me in the right direction -- but for the sake of my legal status in Australia, this trip couldn't come soon enough.