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Published: December 6th 2006
Devonport
This is Devonport, pretty from a distance but we felt it was a bit pretentious when we got there.Today's mission was to head over to Devonport to meet up with and pick the brains of some expats living in the Auckland area. I belong to a website for people who are thinking of moving to New Zealand from the Uk, which is where I learned about this meet-up. I was really looking forward to meeting some potentially like-minded people so it seemed like a good sign that the sun was out again even if the wind was still doing it's best gale-force impersonation.
We caught the ferry across the water, just a short hop away. It was NZ$9 (just over 3 pounds) each for a return ticket on the decent sized boat although the journey across only took about 10 minutes. I think it took longer to embark and disembark than we actually spent sailing! Still, the boat deck afforded us great views of the Auckland City skyline on one side and the Devonport peninsular district on the other.
Once safely across the water, we made out way up the high street to there the pub was we were due to meet everyone in. Unfortunately I hadn't planned things all that well and had no idea what
On the Water
It felt great to be out on the water again - even if it was only for 10 mins each way! the organiser looked like so when we were greeted by an extremely crowded pub, we didn't know where to start. After wandering around aimlessly for a few minutes, I opted to ask the barstaff about the meet-up and luckily one of the barmen knew what I was on about. A few minutes later we were back in the beer garden and face to face with a large group of Brits who didn't seem to have any interest in getting to know us. I spoke to the organiser and took a look around but no-one made room for us around any of the tables nor did anyone make any effort to welcome us. We were a bit miffed and after standing around for a couple of minutes hoping that someone would invite us into the group, we just decided to bugger off.
Feeling pretty pissed off for the second time this week, we walked off our frustrations by hiking up Mount Victoria, another of Auckland's volcanic peaks. There were nice views to be had from the top but the last thing we expected to find there was a turn of the century hidden gun turret! We went in and had
City Skyline
There's a great view to be had of Auckland's city centre skyline from the devonport side, as Glynn discovers. a look at the huge bit of cannon-style militariana but the pile of pizza boxes and empty beer bottles littered at its base was sad to see. Up until then, Auckland seemed to be full of people proud to keep their city clean.
We walked back down to the seafront after a while and partook in some British style chips as we sat by the waters' edge and got systematically blasted by the icy breeze. That didn't stop the seagulls from scouting around us in the hope that a stray chip might make its way to them. Glynn took pity on them and made a flock of friends when he threw some scraps out for them. Even the sight of the pretty gulls didn't lift our mood that much and we didn't feel inclined to venture anywhere after Devonport, so we simply went back to the hostel.
Tomorrow is our last day in Auckland before we move on to Rotorua. We really do like Auckland a lot but after the bad weather and all the restrictions of travelling in a rich country on a small budget, we're looking forward to heading somewhere new, if only to have some
City Skyline
This is one of those 'take a photo of yourself' shots. Can you tell?! P.S. Does anyone else think Glynn's starting to look a bit like James Hetfield of Metallica? new walking routes to enjoy. Rotorua though is famous for it's volcanic plains, thermal spas and mud geysers so it sounds like there will be plenty to entertain us :-)
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Linda
non-member comment
Looks beautiful and green
What a shame about the lack of respose from the ex-pats group. Hope it doesn't get you down too much. You still have more places to see and natives to meet. Also - I agree, Glynn is looking very Metallica, I think the glasses have something to do with it. Liked the picture of Jish skydiving too.