Kia ora from Auckland!
1st July 2006
We arrived in Auckland 3 days ago on the 28th June, having left Santiago on the 26th. Our flight was only 12 hours (We are qualified to say ‘only’ having survived a 23 hour bus ride in South America!), we managed to lose the 27th June forever, due to the fact we crossed the international date line. We are now 11 hours ahead of the uk, which means the England game kicks off here at 3am (should have plenty of time for a decent pre match build up on the town!), although we must point out for Shirleys benefit, this dosn’t mean we will know the score before you!
In the 72 hours or so we have had in Auckland we have both been really impressed. There is something re-assuring about seeing good old Queen Lizzy’s head staring back at you from the currency, and the ability to say more than ‘tienne usted una habitacion double’ in the local lingo when checking into the hostel cannot be under estimated. We have checked into ‘Auckland Central Backpackers’ which, surprisingly, is a backpackers hostel in the centre of Auckland. The price of a room is about 200% more than South America, so gone are the privilages of a private room with private bathroom, replaced by a dormitory room, with shared showers and toilet!
Our room mate for the last 3 days has been Aaron, from Belfast. Living upto the stereotype, we have not seen Aaron sober yet (and not likely too, since he had done a lord lucan when we woke up this morning!), infact the only thing we have seen Aaron do in the last 3 days is sit in the room, with his bottle of Brandy, spouting nonsense, between apologies for being drunk (again) and swearing about one thing or the other. We will miss Aaron now he has gone, having made us feel like we were back in the company of Burnsy for a few days!
On our first night in Auckland we went up the sky tower which dominates the cityscape at 328m (cheers Siddle for the tall building top trumps which gave me this fact!). From here you can take in the whole city, and actually see from one side of New Zealand to the other, taking in the Paciffic Ocean in the East, and the Tasman sea in the West. The other thing you can do from here, if you are absolutlely nuts, is throw yourself off the building in a sort of controlled base jump……who knows, when we come back through Auckland maybe we will have plucked up the courage to do this!
The second day in Auckland we walked the coast to coast walk, in a bit to undertake some exercise (well, if we are honest, in a bid to save some cash!). Basically this walk involves setting off from viaduct harbour in the centre of Auckland, on one side of the island, and walking 16kms to the other side (then getting the bus back!). It is winter here at the moment but the weather in Auckland has been fine so far, much like a spring day back home, so we enjoyed the stroll which enabled us to see loads of the city and it’s people.
Yesterday, we continued the exercise theme by hiring mountain bikes for the day, and heading round the coast to Mission Bay. Here we endulged in a fish and chip lunch on the beach, which was really great (you can take the boy / girl out of Whitley / Deal, but you can’t take Whitley / Deal out the boy / girl). Whilst out cycling we were really surprised by how helpful the locals were, everytime we stopped to get the map out, someone appeared and spent the next 5 mins explaining where we were, what they suggested you did next etc etc before you could even open the map, now that certainly didn’t happen in Bolivia!
The other thing we did yesterday was book our Campervan for the rest of our time here! From tomorrow we pick up our wheels and move into our new home for the next 6 weeks. Apparantley campervans are the best way to see the 2 islands, although this sentence normally ends with, in summer. As it is winter, apparantley campervans are only hired out by absolute idiots, or pi$$ed Irishmen called Aaron. Still, we got a bargain, so if we survive the blizzards in the South Island, it could turn out to be a masterstroke! We set out tomorrow, heading to the North of the North Island, and the relative mild weather of the Bay of islands. Some of the activities we have built into our budget for our time here include dolphin and whale watching, blackwater rafting, white water rafting, glacier walking and a skydive! We are both really looking forward to it, if any of these activities (or the weather) spell the end for us, then Donny, you can have our ashes tickets!
Tags: Auckland, New Zealand
Chris and Charl
Hi guys
You look like you are having a great time the pics from south america were great my boss is liking your New Zealand photos as she is from Wellington, making her a bit homesick i think! Jade is keeping up with where you are on her globe and chris is also looking at your photos with me at work. Looking forward to reading more and seeing more pictures
Take care
Love Kieron, Nick and Jade
Hey Kier
Good to hear from you.
Glad you following the site….got some more to post at some stage but this is just a quick visit to let mam know we are OK.
Survived my first week in campervan (well its just a big car really!
Take care
Charl
Aarya
I do think you right on the spot with this post, i could use a lot a struff for my new study thank you very much.
Greets