Auckland and Waiheke Island

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We landed in Auckland 13 hours later, at 4:30am local time. Because we had travelled over the international date line, we lost a day. In the airport , we grabbed a coffee and took a look at a map of Auckland so we could find our hostel. Before that, we had to go through immigration where they ask you questions about why you're in the country. When someone in uniform starts asking you questions, its hard not to look guilty, but we got through with little hassle. After that, we had to go through customs and biosecurity where they had sniffer dogs going around. We had to declare our hiking boots because we had visited forests in South America. They checked our boot soles and all was ok! After our coffee we got into a shuttle outside the arrivals and it took us to our hostel, Lantana Lodge on Georges Bay Road, in the Parnell district. THe receptionist, Akiko, had left the key in the letterbox for us, so we headed in and watched TV in the lounge while we waited for reception to open.

As we sat in the lounge, people started to wake up and come in, and we discovered that alot of people staying there were there long term and getting up for work. Pople who come to NZ for a year to work usually start in hostels until they can afford a place to live. Once reception opened and we met Akiko and Raj the owner, we walked into Fort Street to get breakfast. We found a great cafe and had eggs, hashbrowns and rashers and tea! Yum! We spotted a place across the road that rented out campervans called "Spaceships", so we went over to have a look. Mike and Sarah, the couple we met in Madidi, had recommended Spaceships to us. There was a car in the shop, and Dan, the salesman showed us around the car. He was a real Del Boy, he could have sold sand to the Arabs, but anyhow, he gave us a good price so we said we would think about it and come back. We bought some new clothes (they were much needed after 2 months wearing the same ones- they were a bit grubby!). We went to the supermarket and stocked up on food. If we were going to save money, we needed to cook in, as eating out in NZ is very expensive. When we got back to Lantan, our room was ready so we dropped our bags in and went for a "power nap" around 1pm. We didn't wake up till 7am the next day.

We ate the beans on toast we bought for lunch the previous day and went into the city centre to look around, and book our spaceship. We just loved Auckland, although South America was fantastic, it was very poor in parts and there was alot of poverty. Auckland is so clean and fresh and civilised- it was a welcome change to the environment we just left. We reserved the van to pick up the following monday, and Dan recommended we get the Winter Warmer Pack- which consisted of a little heater, hot water bottles and a thermos. (Turns out it was much needed!). He also recommended a Penninsula like Howth called Devonport (Kiwis are always keen to tell you the best places to go). You get a ferry there and there's a great view from on top of the volcano (its a dormant one). It was a nice day, and we had no other plans, so we decided to get the ferry over to Devonport and take a look around. We got the ferry across and had some lunch in a bar called "The Patriot". We had our first pints of Guinness since we left home (we'd already forgotten the name of that bar in Santiago....). After that, we walked up Mount Victoria (the volcano) and took some photos of the beautiful view. We could see Auckland, Rangatota, Mission Bat and St Heliers. And of course the famous sky tower (which is supposed to be the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere). We got back on the ferry and headed back to Auckland. We had booked tickets for the cinema, so we grabbed a quick bite at the hostel and went out to the cinema (civilisation!)- it was great to zone out and pass the time for a couple of hours. We went to see The Dictator. We laughed alot!

The next day we went to Auckland museum and got a guided tour. We learned all about the Maori culture, and how they arrived in NZ (or the island of the Long White Cloud as they call it). There were loads of Maori artefacts as well as artefacts from Samoa, Fiji and other Pacific Islands. We walked down to the coast and walked as far as we could to Mission Bay, and watched the sun set over the Auckland skyline from the yacht club carpark. We then went back to our hostel to pack our bags- we were going to Waiheke Island the following day for one night. We cooked some dinner and had a few games of cards before going to bed.

We checked out of the hostel the following morning, and they offered to keep our bags in storage overnight while we were on the island. We got the ferry across and got the bus to Oneroa, where we thought we were staying, and wandered around our hostel. We asked directions and realised our hostel was in Onetanga not Oneroa, so we got back on a bus and it dropped us at Onetanga beach. The hostel, Kina Backpackers, was just off the beach up 78 steps. The bus driver was very friendly and gave us lots of tips on where to eat and buy cheap booze. We made our way up the steps and found our hostel with a magnificent view of the beach. The owner, Luke, showed us around and gave us loads of information on the local vineyards, which we were planning on visiting the following day. We were pretty hungry at this stage so we dropped our bags and went for a walk down the beach and stopped off at Charlie Farleys Bar for some fish n chips and a pint of local beer. We whiled away the evening in Charlie Farleys, playing cards and sampling some wine aswell. We got back to the hostel and watched telly for a while (a replay of the first of the Ireland/All Blacks test matches). Cloudy, one of the long term guests at the hostel, came in and tried to play Flight of the Concords DVD but it wouldn't work, so we decided to hit the hay.

Next morning, we said goodbye to Kina Backpackers (after stuffing ourselves with freshly baked bread!) and then started to walk the vineyard trail. The sun was shining and it was lovely and dry. On the trail, we saw the vineyards, which, because it was winter, were being cut back and trimmed. The scenery was beautiful. On the way, we met a dog we named Sheldon, and he followed us for most of the way. There were huge olive plantations aswell as vineyards and we stroled among them. We wandered for a while until Sheldon turned back, it must have been too far for him! On the walk we saw a Tui bird, a very famous bird in New Zealand (there's even a Tui beer). He was hanging out in a tree singing to his hearts content; we could just make out his little white tuft under his chin. We came across Stoneyridge vineyard, where Cloudy works. We called in for some lunch and wine tasting. We got a "tasting plate" which had loads of stuff on it, like smoked salmon, pesto, parma ham, cheese, olives and prawns. We had a glass of wine with our lunch. This was a welcome luxury after South America! After food, we decided to sample a few more wines. You could get taster portions for $2/3 so we went for 4 different types. There was a description of the taste of the wines on the menu (Full-bodied in the glass, burgundy colour, soft on the palate with hits of watermelon...blah blah blah) but the wine tasted like...wine. We left Stoneyridge a little merrier than when we went in, and as we got out onto the road, we spotted a brewery next door. So we called in for a pint of local beer and to catch the last bit of sun before it got cold.

We tore ourselves away from the brewery to catch a bus to Oneroa where we would get the ferry back to Auckland. Back in Auckland, we stopped at the supermarket to get some food to cook for dinner. We cooked an ate dinner quickly- because the second of the Ireland/All Blacks test match was on. We made our way down to Paddingtons, a pub just down the road from Lantana. When we arrived, the place was packed, so we grabbed a couple of pints of Guinness and found somewhere to stand. Next of all, Dave spied a girl, Donna, he used to work with in the bank. She was with her boyfriend, Ger, and they had been living in Auckland since Februray. They never come to the Parnell district, but a friend of theirs worked in Paddingtons. We got chatting, and when the match was over (so close!) we all made our way to Fort Street Union. The night turned into a pub crawl of sorts, and by pub no. 3 I was starting to fade. Donna convinced me to keep going, the next destination was O'Hagans, the Irish Pub. Felt like being on the Lares Trek again - "Come on! We're nearly there! Don't give up now!". So I kept going and experienced the greatness of what is O'Hagans at the Viaduct. Its like Coppers except less groping. There was live music and it was great craic. We really had a great night, but the bank account suffered though!

The following day we were feeling a bit worse for wear, so we had a lie in, and then headed down to Britomart to catch a bus to the zoo. Our bus driver was a nice lady who had classic rock blaring over the intercom. She called us when it was time for us to get off, and as we got off the bus she said how lucky we were to be going to the zoo, and what wonderful weather it was, before beeping the horn and waving us off, like something from a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. We got to the zoo after a short walk and saw loads of the usual stuff- Lions, Tigers, Giraffes, Zebras, Rhinos (Well, usual for me...), but further on was a whole section dedicated to native New Zealand flora and fauna. It was really great to see all the different kinds of birds that live there. The only native mammals in New Zealand are 3 species of bat. The others are all introduced. After the zoo, we made our way back by bus to Britomart and got a Chinese meal just off Queen street. Dave was feeling a bit off still from the night before and uncharacteristically left some of his dinner behind. We went to the cinema again to see "The Avengers" which we really enjoyed. Back at the hostel, we heade to bed as we had to pick up our spaceship the following day.

We got up early on our last day in Auckland, and a taxi picked us up from our hostel to take us to pick up our spaceship. We left the hostel, with the friendly new receptionist waving at us eagerly till we turned the corner. It was a pretty miserable day, the first rainy day we had since we arrived. Long story short, we ended up paying more for the car than we expected because of insurance. Its kind of a boring story but if you're really interested just ask us when we get home! We got sorted, packed up our car, which we affectionately called "Red Dwarf" and started our long drive to the Bay of Islands.

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Photos

View of Auckland from Devonport
We made the short climb up Mount Victoria and what a view

View from Auckland Museum
You can see Devonport and Rangatota behind

Sparrows
These sparrows hung around us outside the museum while we ate lunch. They were looking at us expectantly for some food.

Dinosaur Skeleton
At the Auckland Museum

On our walk
I took loads of photos on our walk to Mission Bay

Auckland at Sunset
You can see Devonport to the right of the city

78 steps to Kina Backpackers!
On Waiheke Island

Surfers on the beach
Waiheke Island

Sparrows- they're everywhere
At Charlie Farleys

The view of the beach from our hostel
On Waiheke Island

The vineyards
On Waiheke Island