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Published: January 9th 2008
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Well... i made it.
Finally had a layover long enough to leave LAX and it was cold and raining in LA! That's just unlucky. I took at $50 taxi to Santa Monica and a 75 cent bus back to the airport. Lesson learned: always try public transport first.
I arrived Sunday morning in Auckland around 7 am after a VERY long flight from Los Angeles that left 1.5 hours late! That day, Auckland was beautiful, but I was quite jet lagged / just plain tired so (unfortunately) I only managed a long walk and a coffee with a new friend Maria (Irish and very sweet!) and fell asleep around 4:30 pm until Monday morning! On Monday I had a day trip through Auckland city which was recently named the 4th largest city in the world by LAND, not population. Some of the Americans I was travelling with just thought this was another fib our tour guide was telling us (he was rather "creative" with his stories, so we were never sure when he was telling the truth!)... however, my guide on the way to the Bay of Islands today told us the very same thing. Apparently Aucklanders (AKA: JAFAs
= Just Another Flippin Aucklander) haven't taken to traditional big city living in highrises and flats, they all have to have houses with yards, etc, so the suburbs of Auckland basically go on FOREVER. But there are some really pretty areas, nice beaches and water EVERYWHERE. Auckland and Singapore are apparently the only cities with harbours on both the west and east sides! There are also dormant volcanoes all over the place. We climbed one of them and could see some of the others from the top, it was quite beautiful. We also went for a bridge walk on the Auckland bridge... it was a little anticlimactic; though I think it was a good adrenaline rush for the 4 people who jumped off from the bungy pod.
Yesterday Maria and I went to Mission Bay (still part of Auckland) which is a gorgeous beach. However, it wasn't so gorgeous because it was rather chilly and rainy all day. I didn't even take photos, it was rather sad!! I am hoping to see her when I am done my tour of both islands as I should have an extra day in Sydney. She has finished touring around and is hoping
Santa Monica Beach
Wish it was warm enough to swim!! to find work in the city.
I am now starting my Kiwi Experience tours; starting in the Bay of Islands in a small town called Paihia. The name apparently comes from "pai", the Maori word for "good" and "hia" which is really just how 'here' sounds in kiwi English. So, it's a "mixed" name without a good story. I thought I would tell it anyway, since I don't have much intresting to tell yet. Anyway, this place is supposed to be SOOOO gorgeous, but it is again rainy and cold, so we had a long lunch at a pizzeria and wandered around a bit, but have decided to do the cruise of the islands on Friday before we leave. Hopefully the weather is better that day so we can get some good shots. Oh yeah, by "we" I am referring to myself (duh) and another "new friend" I met this morning on the kiwi bus up here. Her name is Holly and she is from Seattle (interesting, the 4th person i have met from Washington state already...). She's very nice, also travelling alone and is a professional photographer at home -- so you can imagine how remarkably better her
Santa Monica Pier
famous enough to take a photo i thought! photos are than mine! We are in the same dorm room here (a mixed dorm, but i think we only have one London boy and all girls otherwise) and i think the next couple days will be good (better if the weather clears up!). We go to Cape Reinga tomorrow which is supposed to be pretty incredible... our bus rides right on the sand and in the surf on the 90 mile beach, we go sandboarding (weather permitting, i assume) and enjoy some famous "fush and chups" that we keep hearing about but haven't yet managed to try. I am having flashbacks to my childhood vacation to the Outer Banks, NC when I was not allowed to slide down the dunes because we were dressed to nicely and when we were planning to go back and slide down, it happened to be the beginning of a hurricane... So here I am, finally about to slide (up to 90 km/h, they say) down a crazy dune, and it's raining. Fingers crossed, the sun will miraculously come out tomorrow!
at least it's not snowing! xo
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Geoff
non-member comment
Sounds Sick
Hey Christine, sounds like you're having an awesome time. All girls and one guy... I'm totally in... whats the name of the hostel... I'll fly down tomorrow! ahahah... Even though I'm in Japan, I'm still jealous of your traveling. My traveling has become more like living and the day-to-day buzz of my work is slowly draining the life out of me... I need to get on the road again.. dammit I still have 10 more months... :( Keep up the blogs! Cheers