The Land of AUS: Auckland NZ

On Thursday, September 22nd I left Melbourne for Auckland NZ, the first stop on our 8 day spring break adventure. Guelph was already there in the hostel, having left the day before me. Before I continue I should probably explain how this trip came to be.

Outside our hostel on Day 2- in front of the Auckland Sky Tower. Remind you of anything?

Her and I had planned this trip in the second week we met and realised that the Rugby World Cup was held during our reading week. This was towards the end of July. We had no idea who would be coming with us, but we were going to be in Napier for the Canada vs. Japan rugby game- assuming that we had the best chances of winning that match. Guelph and I sat down and looked through her ipad guidebook to NZ. We chose the cities that we really wanted to visit (although, I'll admit, I didn't know anything about NZ). Several people heard about our plans later on and I forwarded our itinerary to a lot of people. Chicago and Denmark were to join us for the game but couldn't leave until Monday because classes. The week before we left I found out that Newmarket and Danish were joining us! They had booked the trip weeks ago based around my intinerary, yet failed to mention it to us. It was an awesome surprise!
This is how Danish and I ended up going to the airport and hostel together. It was quite nice to have someone to travel with and definitely cuts costs in cab fare.
Back to Auckland- we arrived around 1am to the hostel, checked in and passed out. I was put into a room with Guelph luckily, but Danish was on his own a few floors above. Although, I shouldn't say on his own- another cost cutting measure of ours was to stay in hostels in rooms with as many as 16 people! It's a quick way to make friends and allowed us to stay for about $22 per night on average for each of our destinations.
The next morning we met in the lobby at 10am. This all had to be pre arranged because our cell phones didn't work without enormous expenses. Guelph had heard that the Auckland Museum was good and not too far away. We walked through the city, to Domain Park (one of the oldest parks in Auckland that is made up of an old inactive Volcano), and then up a very large hill to the Auckland War Memorial Museum.

The museum itself was beautiful, but the view from the museum even more so. It also contained a lot of New Zealand information, like the animals that can be found there, the wars they participated in, and the Maori culture (the indigenous population of New Zealand). There was so much to see and I took a lot of pictures.

Albatross- Native birds to NZ, they remind me of the Disney movie "The Rescuers Down Under"

Maori Ancestral house- you had to take off your shoes. All carved faces or woven patterns made of leaves. Incredible!

The wars NZ people participated in

After the museum we headed back to the city so that I could eat lunch at Wendys! While I know this is not cultural at all, there is only 1 Wendy's in Melbourne and I have yet to see it. I hadn't had Wendy's in 3 months.. so try not to judge me. After Wendy's we took a very long bus through the subburbs of Auckland to Mt. Eden area. Mt Eden ('Maungawhau' in Maori) is the tallest non-manmade point in Auckland. It is an amazingly large crater. There was a long winding path to climb up to the top, although you can also drive. However, that path was not quick enough for Danish, who found a few footholds in the side of the hill. This lead to me and Guelph dragging our butts up the side like mountain goats. I was unimpressed, until I saw that unbelievable view...

The sign to Mt Eden Summit and our explorer poses

The view of Auckland city centre

The crater- to get the full impact of it's size, look for the people along the edge on the other side- MASSIVE!

at the top

After the climb we headed back into the city centre to look at souvenirs. I purchased a postcard at every city we stopped at. We were also able to purchase Canadian flags to bring to the game with us. After a long day of hiking and walking it was time for a backpackers dinner (Mr. Noodles) and then an early bed.

Newmarket arrived in Auckland late overnight and in the morning we took that 8:20 bus to Taupo! Already being extremely impressed by Auckland I could not wait to keep going. We took The Naked Bus (which is like a greyhound) for $16 per person. It was a short 4 hours to Taupo, my favourite stop, which I will write about tomorrow.