Blogs from Central, Auckland, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 12

On my trip back to Auckland I stayed 5 nights in Wellington, which was a good choice because it is a lovely city. I visited a couple of museums including the famous Te Papa. I took a tour of the Parliament buildings & discovered that the Kiwi system is very similar to the German system that I learnt in Saarbrücken. I took the bus to Weta Cave to visit the studio that made films such as Lord of the Rings & Avatar. I climbed Mt Victoria looking for the place where the hobbits hid from the dark rider in the first Lord of the Rings movie & probably walked straight past it without noticing it so had to use my imagination. After a relaxing few days there, meeting nice people, I took the stray bus back ... read more

The tale of biosecurity and invasive plant researchers My boots are confiscated at Auckland International Airport. I grabbed about four hours of sleep on the 13 hr plane ride from San Fran to Auckland, and I wearily stare at the efficient man who’s looking at my boots in firm distaste. I make one argument, “I’m an invasive plant researcher. I can assure you those are grass seed shells, no live seeds.” (Not sure I was even that articulate.) But no dice. The boots cannot enter the country as is. We (my traveling companions: Kristy, Jill, and Angee) had decided to check the customs box that said, yes, indeed, we have camping gear so that meant standing in a line behind families with Costco-size boxes of bulk foods and alcohol. I knew my boots wouldn’t go through. ... read more

So nach 27 Stunden unterwegs war ich gestern dann so um eins zwei rum auch endlich mal angekommen und mehr als die Innenstadt und ne Kneipe auf ner offenen dachterasse hab ich bis jetzt nicht gesehen. Heute hab ichs bis jetzt nur geschafft mir was zum essen kochen zu besorgen und ein Handy. wenn jemand meine Neuseelandische Nummer mag einfach Bescheid geben! Jetlag sitzt mir immer noch ordentlich in den Knochen! Kanns selbst nicht glauben aber bin ich echt alleine in nem vollkommen fremden Land auf der anderen Seite der Welt!!!! Krass krass! :)... read more

Sunday morning, whilst still in the Bay of Islands, I took a boat ride out into the bay in search of dolphins. We found a couple so I went into swim with them. I have to say that I underestimated how hard it is to swim with flippers on when I have never used them before. Also the water was only 15 degrees so rather on the cold side. However even though I didn't get too close, it was a great experience, although when I got back on board I have never been so cold before. Afterwards we saw another pod of dolphins but these were more numerous but smaller but we couldn't swim with them as there were young with the pod. However this second pod came so close to the boat & had great ... read more

The second day in Auckland we decided to see as much as we could – so we booked the bus tour where you went around all the sites and could get on and off as many times as you want. First stop Kelly Tarltons arctic adventure – a combined Aquarium plus a cold area for penguins. You go on a snow cat tour to see the penguins – Ruth would have loved this – three different kind of penguins with snow and viewing platforms to see them swimming. In the Aquarium they had sharks and Sting Rays plus a number of other fish including Sea Horses – it was very enjoyable and we spent about two and half hours there. Then onto the Auckland Museum – again a very interesting place with a lot of background ... read more