Blogs from Auckland, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 346

Walkabout Auckland Cruised around Auckland Domain Auckland Museum Yesterday I had a another lazy start. I can't believe that I slept in til 10AM! I decided that I should get unlazy and after making something for breakfast I decided I should enjoy the good weather and walk over to Auckland Domain...lots of green space! I walked by the duck pond, Winter Gardens and stopped off at the Auckland Museum. Quite interesting! I learned a lot about the Maori and the history of Auckland. They had a special exhibit for ANZAC (Australian New Zealand Army Corps) on the Gallipoli campaign. It was quite interesting to read some of the personal accounts that were displayed. I was in the museum for at least two hours which could explain why I was not all that interested in the third ... read more

Kia Ora from me I made it to New Zealand After some long flights. After what seemed like forever in airplanes and airports I finally arrived in Auckland yesterday around lunch time. Phew! The flights themselves were pretty uneventful. Although the girl beside me on the flight to Sydney was a bit of a lush! I think she ended up having six Bloody Mary's (always ordered in two at a time) and a few glasses of wine as well. Meanwhile I'm ordering drinks such as water and Gingerale. lol The movies that were playing weren't very good. Well unless you're an “Electra” fan. haha I pretty much kept dozing on and off and did some reading since there were a million and one magazines to read…what a treat! Hmm, the only other "highlight" I can think ... read more

Auckland… the biggest city in New Zealand… the end of my NZ experience! We arrive here late on Saturday, just in time to take the super fast elevator up the Sky City tower, about 200m high, and see the city and its surroundings before and after sunset. Surprisingly, there was another high adrenalin experience here: standing on the glass bottom in a height of almost 200m…it’s a lot scarier than sky diving :-) even though I knew it was totally safe, I was terrified! At night we finally felt that we reached a real city. The area where we stay is full of cafes, bar and restaurants. We decided to celebrate properly our last evening together in New Zealand and chose the best restaurant that the Lonely Planet offered us: it’s called Chandelier (in Ponsonby st., ... read more

This is really an unbelievable phenomenon. As Israelis, we are used to hide our identity for security reason. We are used to the fact that many people don't like us. Even if I have never encountered real anti-Semitism in my travels around the world, I always know it's there. And suddenly in New Zealand we find ourselves privileged - there are families here that want to host us in their homes! They all belong to a group of Christianity called “Messianic”. They believe that Rome changed the original Christianity of Jesus. They want to go back to this. Their belief is very similar to Judaism, with one “tiny” difference: that Jesus was a messiah. I had some conversations with some of them, I tried to convey to them my opinion, even that I am not religious, ... read more

these are pics of the goodbye party in the flat for Mattias. WHAT - a - PLAYER !!!! one of the best flatmates i've ever had, we became such good buddies in only 3 months. Miss him and Pascal heaps, and stefan too. the german boys were such a good time when they were here, now things are very very dull in the flat-- we need them to come back to NZ and have fun with us!!... read more