Auckland, day 1

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On Thursday October 8th, After a 12 hour delay at LAX due to a bird flying in to our plane (everyone is ok, except for the bird who unfortunately died), I finally landed in Auckland, NZ to embark on an adventure of a lifetime. But first it was time for bed. I went to sleep as soon as I got to ACB hostel in Auckland which was around midnight. This was a good thing, since I have not had any jetlag even though there’s a 19 hour time difference between New Zealand and New York.

The next day, Friday October 9th, I woke up bright and early to get my free breakfast that came as part of my package at the hostel. From then on my day was very busy. It started out with getting everything settled with the “job search office” and opening a bank account with BNZ and applying for an RID # (NZ version of SS #) and buying a cell phone. By mid-morning I had finished these tasks and it was time to wander the city.

My hostel was on Queen Street - the center of all things touristy on Queen Street. It’s basically the Broadway (street not theater) of Queen Street. You have your junky souvenir shops and your “oh so healthy “-NOT! fast food restaurants. Other than that, there’s not much else. Thus I ventured off to the harbor. There were some yachts and fishing boats, still nothing special. I also decided to find my way to the synagogue so I would know where to go the next day for Simchat Torah services without getting lost. Once I found it, I decided it was time to head back to the hostel as it was getting late. Once I got back, my roommate, Emily from NJ/NY), was back in the room after doing the same stuff I had done earlier in the morning. We had decided to get dinner and wander some more.

We wandered on to Meyers Park, one of the many beautiful parks in Auckland. This park is on the same street on the synagogue. It’s a very green park with palm trees lined along cement paths. It’s the type of place to relax with a good book. As you walk along the paths, you’ll find a replica of Michelangelo’s sculpture “Moses” where Moses is seen with devil horns. We were then starting to get hungry and found a little Turkish restaurant appropriately named “Little Turkish Cafe” on “K” Road. For $7 NZD, I had gotten a Hummus plate with Turkish bread w/yogurt dribbled on top. It was quite good for the cheapest thing on the menu! Emily was quite pleased with her Pineapple pizza as well, stating that it was better than those she’s had in the USA and is on par with her favorite from Australia and that it has something to do with the type of ham/bacon that they use. Other than this restaurant,” K” road is like the old 42nd street - seedy sex shops and Gentlemen clubs. From “K” Road, we made our way back to Queen Street and back to the hostel.

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Photos

Sky Tower
Auckland's signature structure - also tallest.

Comments

[olivia]

Simchat TOrah
How was the synogogue?

[saranakash]

wait for the next blog entry ;)

[saranakash]

yup got it.. and i told you to read my next entry which you did ;) .. traveling alone but meeting people along the way.. and getting random peeps to take photos.