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Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Auckland
November 16th 2007
Published: December 13th 2007
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Our arrival in New Zealand was met with cheer; the airport shuttle was clear, clean and easily labelled making our transition from the airport one of ease. Our hotel room or rather pod was small. Formule 1 is a chinese hotel chain, the rooms incorporate everything - washing machine, cooking facilites, balcony etc all within 12ft x 7ft - you have to admire the planning.

After nearly a month spent in the South Pacific our bodies were used to high humidity and hot temperatures so Auckland came as a bit of a surprise being cold and overcast. Bring only lightweight beach attire prompted us to panic about the looming 25 nights in the campervan. By the end of the week this had forced Caz to Kathmandu (Australian Outdoor Clothing Company) to further reduce her already small travelling budget by 100 quid on ill fitting warm clothing.

Auckland itself was a great city; waterfront apartments, cafes and bars which made for a very home from home feel. We visited Parnell, a small district just outside the CBD primarily to find a chocolate shop which we had seen advertised everywhere. The place had an arty vibe which encouraged us to spend
AucklandAucklandAuckland

Auckland Skyline Across The Harbour
a few hours window shopping building up a hunger after the chocolate purge. We opted for Thai as an experiment to check it was up to standard, the chicken satay peanut sauce was spot on. After our hearty lunch we rolled ourselves around nearby Auckland domain, following the walking tracks around the forest and gardens.

The sites listed in the tourist leaflets were all rather expensive affairs so keen to see a little further afield and spend as little as possible we jumped on a boat to visit Rangitoto, a distinct volcano cone within Auckland harbour. The walk was a steady incline about an hour and a half to the top and an hour to get down. The track had been carved inbetween mounds of old solidifed lava. Once at the top we rewarded ourselves with a pink chelsea bun each and enjoyed the views of the harbour.

The morning of our campervan collection arrived, we caught the bus down to the rental place and collected our white, ten year old banger of a campervan. We had only a few questions for the rental people, one of which was 'What does the chinese text running down the sides
Auckland DomainAuckland DomainAuckland Domain

A City Oasis
of the van mean?' They didn't know which didn't fill us with confidence but we shrugged our shoulders and thought sod it we are going look like chinese plummers, hopefully!

















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Rangitoto Rangitoto
Rangitoto

The View From The Bottom
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Rangitoto

View From The Top


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