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Published: February 9th 2008
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I left Rotorua on the evening and got into Auckland quite late. I got up the next morning and had a quick explore round Auckland Central Business District. I then headed to the Britomart train station to find out how to get to Eden Park to watch England play New Zealand in the first 20/20 cricket match of the series. I luckily met some guys from my hostel in the information queue and we found out we could get free train travel with our cricket tickets, so we headed down early to the ground. Unfortunately all the people I met from my hostel were in the terraces and I was not, the ground did not let me swap my ticket even though there were some left. The ground staff said I would easily swap the ticket as a lot of people would not want to be in the terraces with the hardcore barmy army. I asked about 20 people before the police told me to move on and take my seat. Shocking. The ground itself is really nice and I was happy to get a really good view side on to the wicket. I also got a free Black Caps cricket
helmet but I have no idea how to get it home. England went onto win comfortably, the highlight being Dimi Mascheranhas hitting four consecutive sixes. The atmosphere was really good and there seemed to be loads of English fans about and a few upset kiwis as well. It was definitely worth getting to Auckland early to watch it.
The next day I went to the information site at the sky tower to see what there was to do in Auckland (not much without money). In the sky tower foyer I got to see a group of performing Shaolin monks, which was pretty cool and very random. I then had a walk to the Auckland domain which is a huge parkland area. Here you can get great views of the Auckland skyline. In the middle of the domain is the massive Auckland museum. It is huge but in my opinion nothing special. The exhibit on volcanoes is pretty good as you can go in a house which shakes about as if in an eruption.
The following morning I got up and headed to the Britomart station to get a bus to Kelly Tarlton's Underwater world. The aquarium sections of
this were pretty average but I got to see some stingrays and sharks getting fed. I even got to touch a stingray barb like the one that killed the mighty Steve Irwin, may he rest in peace. The best part of the underwater world is the snowcat ride. You get to go in a snowcat and circle a penguin enclosure. When I returned to the centre of Auckland I went up the sky tower as I seem to have in most big cities. The unique parts of this tower are that you can walk on a glass floor and you also get to watch people jumping off the tower. It seems that if there is anything tall in New Zealand then people jump off it. Looking over Auckland it struck me as a poor man's Sydney. It has a similar skyline except for the opera house and Auckland's harbour bridge pales in comparison to Sydney's. On the night I went to the cinema and watched the new Cohen brothers film, No Country for Old Men. I love their other films and this one was pretty awesome and predictably unpredictable.
Yesterday, I took a ferry over to Devonport on the
Action shot
Jimmy Anderson bowls bloody fast north shore of Auckland. Devonport is a really nice little town with loads of little cafes and small bars. I walked up the main street towards the first of two extinct volcanic cones in Devonport. I climbed up Mt. Victoria and got great views over the harbour and also on top of the cone there is a field of air vents made to look like mushrooms. I then went down to Cheltenham beach which overlooks Rangitoto Island, Auckland's youngest volcano. I then went up the second volcanic cone called North Head, which was full of people having a wedding! North head was used as an navy training camp up until 1996. It is full of old batteries and dark tunnels which go under the hill and out to the cliff side.
Today I went on a tour to Matamata to see where the Shire from Lord of the Rings was filmed. As we everything it looks a lot smaller than on film. There is a hill in the middle of a massive farm which has loads of little house fronts sticking out. Only 17 of the 30+ hobbit holes remain but it is instantly recognisable. Unfortunately the amazing weather
we have had here has made the grass brown rather than the amazing green you see normally. The sheep arent too happy either. We got to hear lots of stories about the filming and making of the Shire. At the bottom of the hill there is a lake and the party tree which also features in the film. It was really weird actually being there but I enjoyed it.
I only have one full day left in NZ before Donkey and I jet off to the states for our last week on the road. I've loved all I have seen of New Zealand and will definitely aim to come back here sometime in the future to see everything I have had to miss out.
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