Blogs from Auckland, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 334

This was the second time in Auckland for Kirsi and third time for Sami so we had already seen most of the city. We stayed with Ally and Phil and for a couple of days spent some "normal" everyday life including cooking your own meals, doing some exercises and helping with house works. This was a pleasant change after almost four months of traveling, eating at restaurants, living in hostels and not doing any excercises. One day we went to Rangitoto island, which is Auckland´s youngest volcano. The city is surrounded by tens of old volcanoes, Rangitoto being the latest to erupt around 250 years ago. The island is just 20 minutes ferry ride from the city, but the scenery changes more than you´d imagine. We walked to the summit of the volcano and walked through ... read more

We only have five days left!! I can hardly believe it's almost over! We are now on the North Island of New Zealand. We took a ferry ride from the south and through the Marlbourough Sounds, it was a very scenice boat ride to say the least. Then we did a one way transfer rental car from Wellington to Auckland which is about an 8-9 hour drive so here we are. Tomorrow we are heading out to Waiheke Island for our last 4 nights here and then home we go. I think last time I left off at the Franz Josef Glacier. From there we headed north up the west coast and stopped over in a town called Punakaiki. If you haven't noticed already, many of the towns in New Zealand seem pretty foreign and hard ... read more

Today was my last day in New Zealand. It was very sad and hard for me to leave such a beautiful country and so many recently acquired friends. On the way to the airport I had several DB's, since we had to finish the box before getting on the plane. It was cool drinking in the airport. Even grama had a couple beers with me which was sweet as. Being back in LA with family will be nice. Boulder, with the deuplex and 7 roommates is there waiting for me aswell, so there is light at the end of this tunnel. In the aiport I used my remaining minutes to call Janika and talk to her for a lil while after she got off work while I was waiting for my flight. I hope to keep ... read more

I arrived into Auckland after about a 13 hour flight from Santiago. Having 2 seats to myself made the flight much more bearable. After getting out of the airport it was a shuttle to the hostel and back to hearing English being spoken again after a few weeks of purely Spanish! I stayed in an interesting area of Auckland, but spent my few days in Auckland trapsing around the city. It was a pretty good time as I came to the realisation I was in Australasia and would be home very soon. Checked out the Sky Tower, with a trip up mid morning and one later in the evening. Some very good views and watched a few people jump off the tower (all harnessed in). Walked the streets and also spent some time at their Christmas ... read more

How lucky am I? Well my luck continued..... deciding to settle near Matt n Chloe and Becky n Clive on the North Shore, I managed to land a job at North Shore Hospital in Takapuna (a town just a couple of kilometres north of Auckland city). A couple of phone calls and a day later I was interviewed and then a week later I was in post doing Orthopaedics and MSK Outpatients... just like that! Anyway, on my second day I landed an amazing 5 bedroom, villa-style house, only 5 mins walk (if that) from an amazing beach....and all rent free for a month over Christmas and New Year! How lucky! I don't know whether it was luck, my charming personality or the fact that one of my colleagues was just extremely generous and trusting! To ... read more