Auckland
6 Nov 2011, Indy to Chicago to LA to Auckland = 24 hrs. The 13 hr flight to Auckland was wonderful with Air New Zealand seats being comfortable and giving up both dinner and breakfast with free NZ wine and an assortment of drinks and movies to watch. Definitely recommend them!
Landed 8 Nov 2011 @ 8:15am. (lost a day of our lives). Customs took our sandwiches we'd saved for the flight from LA but since they fed us we were saving them for lunch. I hope the customs dude enjoyed them!! About an hr bus ride to Auckland where we took our bags to Nomad hostel in the heart of down town. We packed a little day pack and left our luggage in a closet room stuffed to the gills with bags and such until we could check in after 2pm. Our roommates in the 8 bed dorm were a Welsh dude that had been traveling for about 6 months and was heading home soon, a young and very shy French guy looking for work here and two super nice German girls. The girls complained that NZ was riddled with germans and we didn't believe them until we actually started getting out an meeting people. If you want to improve your German language skills, come to NZ. Nomads was decent but the beds were squeaky so anyone moving would wake up the whole room.
Being here wasn't as strange for me as much as it must have been for Craig because our first little stop to the market felt like a familiar face. Many of the groceries brands and foods were the same as South Africa and so rather than looking at everything with a blank stare i was giddy to see things I hadn't eaten for half my life. It's the converting the metric system and reading the dates that's not so familiar though. So we bought a loaf of bread, some cheese and cold meats (all on special) and walked up the hill to Albert park overlooking the city to fill our tummies an get our bearings. The weather here is turning so in the shade it's still spring time chilly but when the sun comes out it's surprisingly hot! Walking around down town looking at all the shops we ran across a book store where Craig check on a book that he's been waiting on to come out for a few years. It was meant to come out on 8 Nov in the US and being it was the 8th we thought we'd check. Unfortunately it said the release date was 9/11/2011 and they didn't have any. We both left kinda bummed since he had been so excited. Forgetting all about it we were checking some prices later in the day at a local fish market. The packaged on date was 8/11/11 shocking him at how old the sea food was. Ha, then he realized that the date was actually 8/11/11 since the order of the month and day are switched in NZ vs. US. These are the little things keeping us smiling and that our adventure really has begun in another world.
By 4:30 our first day we had walked around and seen most of Auckland "CBD" (central business district). So after meeting up with our wonderful friend Amanda who lives here, and walking around the wharf watching the many sail boats we really felt like we had a good feel for what Auck has to offer. The roof of Nomads is where the kitchen, out-door eating area and hot tub are so it's always hopping with party travelers. We had some dinner up there amongst them and then crashed from exhaustion .
Day 2 we got up kinda early, for us, and hopped a ferry full of fellow tourists an a load of school kids at 9:00am to a volcanic island called Rangitoto. Being it was a cloudy day the view wasn't spectacular but still could see Auckland's skyline and some surrounding islands which there are plenty of. We took a different way down to crawl through some black caves and were really happy we had a head lamp. Instead of stopping off at Devonport ferry stop, we took it back to the city to try and find some free internet to book our next few days and update the blog. It turns out the internet access all around NZ is expensive and when free, extremely slow so don't expect daily updates but we'll do as can.
Amanda was kind enough to pick us up later that evening and took us over to Devonport town. It's quaint and artsy with a great view onto the city at night. we got some fish and chips from a little place where the guys accent was so thick we could barely understand him but we managed to get an order and pay the amount on the till. With our food under arm we walked up the steep hill of Mnt. Victoria which served as a watch point and cannon hold for WW? for the Auckland harbor. It also happened to be a volcano amongst the 52 that sit in Auckland alone. We drilled Amanda for information on the city and country and even though she's an American transplant she did a fantastic job and was so kind to take us around to some of the smaller neighboring suburbs after dinner and desert of deep friend Maro and Marz candy bars. There is nothing quite like a friendly a familiar face when you're on the other side of your familiar world. She was the perfect intro to our journey far from home. Thank you so much Amanda!
Day 3 we got to take another 2 hr ferry ride to Coromadel where we hopped another little bus to Coromandel town, famous for it's oysters which craig happens to be obsessed with. We were the last two on the bus and after asking the driver where the best place to get some oysters was he said he would take us right to the factory where they're distributed. He passed our hostel and with trailer and all took us right there, went in with us and asked Nathan if he could get us some fresh oysters from that morning. The factory which over looks the bay where they harvest them was just up the same road as our hostel and on the way happened to be his house. He told us all about the town and what to do in the region. The people are so nice here in general but he was the epitome of NZ hospitality. The oysters turned out to be the best either of us had ever had a of course the freshest being that they were in the water just hrs before they swam in our bellies.
Coromandel town is small and known for it's shell fish and offers both sea front an lush forest mountains so considering we'd be in a beach town next we decided to take the free bikes from our hostel and trek up the mountain. The 309 is a road that's mostly unpaved and has some interesting stops along the way unique to this region. A water park made of all recycled "junk" and remarkably creativly done. we didn't go all the way in but rather continued on to the waterfall and Kauri tree hike. Imagine lush jungle and thats what we hiked through to these spectacular and giant trees bigger than any others in NZ. It was much like being in the movie Avatar. Unfortunately most of them where
chopped down and used for ships and boats for the war but few still remain untouched and preserved.
Day 4 is right now. We took a windy bus ride this morning through lush mountains to Whitianga, the "wh" is pronounced with the "f" sound. We're staying at another hostel right on the water just outside of the little town where we found free wi fi at the library. Hence the update!
Most valuable items so far are our sleep sacs, head lamps and day packs, Lowe Alpine back packs. Most precious resource we miss is the internet availability by far. Being in an english speaking country with familiar foods is the best way to break us into the trip so we can still get used to living out of a pack and being nomads. We're having a blast and are so exited to be doing something this incredible! We love you all and thank you for your love and support! We're very happy and keeping safe everywhere we go.
Love love love from Whitianga New Zealand!
Landed 8 Nov 2011 @ 8:15am. (lost a day of our lives). Customs took our sandwiches we'd saved for the flight from LA but since they fed us we were saving them for lunch. I hope the customs dude enjoyed them!! About an hr bus ride to Auckland where we took our bags to Nomad hostel in the heart of down town. We packed a little day pack and left our luggage in a closet room stuffed to the gills with bags and such until we could check in after 2pm. Our roommates in the 8 bed dorm were a Welsh dude that had been traveling for about 6 months and was heading home soon, a young and very shy French guy looking for work here and two super nice German girls. The girls complained that NZ was riddled with germans and we didn't believe them until we actually started getting out an meeting people. If you want to improve your German language skills, come to NZ. Nomads was decent but the beds were squeaky so anyone moving would wake up the whole room.
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| Our first dorm-room experience! |
Being here wasn't as strange for me as much as it must have been for Craig because our first little stop to the market felt like a familiar face. Many of the groceries brands and foods were the same as South Africa and so rather than looking at everything with a blank stare i was giddy to see things I hadn't eaten for half my life. It's the converting the metric system and reading the dates that's not so familiar though. So we bought a loaf of bread, some cheese and cold meats (all on special) and walked up the hill to Albert park overlooking the city to fill our tummies an get our bearings. The weather here is turning so in the shade it's still spring time chilly but when the sun comes out it's surprisingly hot! Walking around down town looking at all the shops we ran across a book store where Craig check on a book that he's been waiting on to come out for a few years. It was meant to come out on 8 Nov in the US and being it was the 8th we thought we'd check. Unfortunately it said the release date was 9/11/2011 and they didn't have any. We both left kinda bummed since he had been so excited. Forgetting all about it we were checking some prices later in the day at a local fish market. The packaged on date was 8/11/11 shocking him at how old the sea food was. Ha, then he realized that the date was actually 8/11/11 since the order of the month and day are switched in NZ vs. US. These are the little things keeping us smiling and that our adventure really has begun in another world.By 4:30 our first day we had walked around and seen most of Auckland "CBD" (central business district). So after meeting up with our wonderful friend Amanda who lives here, and walking around the wharf watching the many sail boats we really felt like we had a good feel for what Auck has to offer. The roof of Nomads is where the kitchen, out-door eating area and hot tub are so it's always hopping with party travelers. We had some dinner up there amongst them and then crashed from exhaustion .
 |
| Occupy Auckland |
Amanda was kind enough to pick us up later that evening and took us over to Devonport town. It's quaint and artsy with a great view onto the city at night. we got some fish and chips from a little place where the guys accent was so thick we could barely understand him but we managed to get an order and pay the amount on the till. With our food under arm we walked up the steep hill of Mnt. Victoria which served as a watch point and cannon hold for WW? for the Auckland harbor. It also happened to be a volcano amongst the 52 that sit in Auckland alone. We drilled Amanda for information on the city and country and even though she's an American transplant she did a fantastic job and was so kind to take us around to some of the smaller neighboring suburbs after dinner and desert of deep friend Maro and Marz candy bars. There is nothing quite like a friendly a familiar face when you're on the other side of your familiar world. She was the perfect intro to our journey far from home. Thank you so much Amanda!
 |
| Amanda who took great care of us in Auckland! xoxo |
Day 3 we got to take another 2 hr ferry ride to Coromadel where we hopped another little bus to Coromandel town, famous for it's oysters which craig happens to be obsessed with. We were the last two on the bus and after asking the driver where the best place to get some oysters was he said he would take us right to the factory where they're distributed. He passed our hostel and with trailer and all took us right there, went in with us and asked Nathan if he could get us some fresh oysters from that morning. The factory which over looks the bay where they harvest them was just up the same road as our hostel and on the way happened to be his house. He told us all about the town and what to do in the region. The people are so nice here in general but he was the epitome of NZ hospitality. The oysters turned out to be the best either of us had ever had a of course the freshest being that they were in the water just hrs before they swam in our bellies.
 |
| Ferry out of Auckland |
Coromandel town is small and known for it's shell fish and offers both sea front an lush forest mountains so considering we'd be in a beach town next we decided to take the free bikes from our hostel and trek up the mountain. The 309 is a road that's mostly unpaved and has some interesting stops along the way unique to this region. A water park made of all recycled "junk" and remarkably creativly done. we didn't go all the way in but rather continued on to the waterfall and Kauri tree hike. Imagine lush jungle and thats what we hiked through to these spectacular and giant trees bigger than any others in NZ. It was much like being in the movie Avatar. Unfortunately most of them where
chopped down and used for ships and boats for the war but few still remain untouched and preserved.
 |
| Adventures up the mountain. |
Day 4 is right now. We took a windy bus ride this morning through lush mountains to Whitianga, the "wh" is pronounced with the "f" sound. We're staying at another hostel right on the water just outside of the little town where we found free wi fi at the library. Hence the update!
Most valuable items so far are our sleep sacs, head lamps and day packs, Lowe Alpine back packs. Most precious resource we miss is the internet availability by far. Being in an english speaking country with familiar foods is the best way to break us into the trip so we can still get used to living out of a pack and being nomads. We're having a blast and are so exited to be doing something this incredible! We love you all and thank you for your love and support! We're very happy and keeping safe everywhere we go.
Love love love from Whitianga New Zealand!
Sounds fabulous! Love reading about your travels :) Continue the updates whenever possible!
ReplyDeleteLoves!