Auckland & Bay of Islands, New Zealand – February 9 – 13, 2007
Our flight to Auckland got in past midnight so we didn’t notice much on our arrival. We were so tired and wired at the same time that Chris left his passport at the airport (luckily the police found it and we recovered it later). After collecting our bags we boarded a shuttle that was supposed to be bound for the city center but, it was over an hour and five stops later that we were finally delivered to Auckland Central Backpackers. It was around 3am when we found our nice clean room and passed out. The next morning, we walked out of our hostel and were happy to be in the center of everything, only blocks from the sailboat-filled bays, gorgeous parks and the gardens of nearby Auckland University. Smaller than Sydney and more manageable but with most of the advantages, Auckland is clean and beautiful but still large enough to have anything anyone would need.
After a bit of exploring we started looking for a rental car for our tour of the islands. Right away we were met with the reality of traveling during the high season as agency after agency informed us they were out of all budget priced cars. The best we could find was a company that could have a car to us by Monday. It was Friday. The price was right and they would arrange for pick up and drop off at each island so we wouldn’t have to ferry the car across to the south island (saving $150) but that meant we had to kill 3 days in Auckland. We agreed and spent the next 3 days walking everywhere – along the harbors, through parks, to the supermarket, around the university (a beautiful campus), and into every shop and bookstore we could find. One of our favorite new hobbies was sitting on the floor at Borders reading all the magazines we could until our bums became numb. In between readings Chris developed a severe addiction to a local shop’s cookies, something he could almost justify having for breakfast through dinner – chocolate rum raisin being our of our favorites.
After what seemed like weeks of killing time, we picked up our car and headed North to Paihia, the gateway to the Bay of Islands. Our car was a treat all right – an early 90’s Toyota Corolla with holes in the seats, an AM radio, an AC fan that clicked frantically and bad brakes and wipers. Nonetheless, it got us around in great time – at least for the time being. We pulled into Paihia just in time to see it before dusk and get into our comfortable little guesthouse. The town was very small, sleepy and quaint – dedicated to tours of the Bay Islands. We were relieved to be out of the big city and were eager to get outside, go for a run and kayak in the bay. Luckily, our backpackers guesthouse felt much like a well kept home, with free bike and kayak rentals and even a hot tub in the back patio. As everything shut down early, we headed to a local spot for the only cheap bite we could find (the restaurants were all quite pricey) and decided that our second night would be catered by New World, the NZ grocery chain!
The next day we boarded an afternoon cruise of the islands on a nice though large boat with about 60 others. Looking around, it was evident we were not in for too much adventure since the average age was over 70. The cruise was comfortable though, and afforded us many great photo opportunities of the more than 150 islands in the Bay and their perfect, turquoise colored coves. At one point we stopped to watch Bottlenose Dolphins play around the boat and marveled at their size. Well, at least those of us who weren’t already down for their afternoon nap! The next stop was a huge island called Urupukapuka where we spent 2 hours hiking the sheep-covered hills taking in the amazing views. Our first up close contact with sheep was disappointing since they were very skittish and ran whenever we tried to run them down for a petting. Oh well, we’ve got almost a month to try to make friends with the little teddy bear looking fellows.
Tags: Travel
pcschroeder
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