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Published: July 27th 2009
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And so my adventure reached a new continent. Touching down on a cold, wet day in Auckland wasn't really the ideal introduction to New Zealand, and having my entire bag searched because the sniffer dog took a liking to me didn't really enhance the experience. In case you were wondering, my crime was having a hacky sack ball I'd bought in Bolivia with me, which was filled with illegal seeds. On the upside, they did give my tent and hiking boots a free clean, so it wasn't all bad.
So then, back into the English speaking world for me. Which was really really wierd if I'm being honest. It probably sounds strange to say I found having everything in English confusing, but it really was at first. However, a few cups of tea and some much needed beans on toast later and I was coming round to the idea. But you don't read this to hear about my diet, you want travelling adventure don't you?
I had a problem on that front, as I landed in New Zealand knowing bugger all about the country. I swiftly managed to do some clever book swapping to land myself a guidebook, and
started at the chapter entitled Auckland. It turns out that Auckland is basically one big volcanic regions, and there is a nice walk between the Pacific and Tasman coasts that encompasses a bit of a climb up 2 of the more famous volcanoes, Mt Eden and One Tree Hill. Therefore, this is what I did, and a very pleasant walk it was too, with some lovely views from the top of the aformentioned hills.
The following day, I decided I needed to have a think about getting around, so went down to have a chat to a travel guy to see what sort of deals there are with the buses here. He went hell for leather trying to sell me one of these kind of tour bus things, with hop on, hop off stops and all that jazz. I wasn't really convinced, as I thought these would all be full of teenagers just spending all their time drinking, but he said that was one particular company, and this one was better, so while I pondered this, I got on a ferry into the harbour to Rangitoto Island, to climb yet another volcano, and look back on Auckland from the
sea.
Returning to base, I had basically decided to take this guys advice, but first asked to see the timetable. This particular bus company had just 3 buses a week running, and only 2 in some places, compared to one a day if you just took a normal bus. It seems rather ridiculous to me to pay over double the price for less service, so that made my decision of how to get around a lot easier!
Decisions made, it was time to move on from Auckland. Compared to my rather relaxed travelling pace in South America, New Zealand is going to be a bit of a whirlwind, so I had to get my skates on.
Stewart
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