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Published: March 21st 2010
Hello all! It looks like I will be playing catch up on my blog, sorry for the delay!
It was a long day/night of flying but I made it! I flew from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia (1hr), Philly to LA (6hrs) and then on to Auckland (12.5hrs). The flight out of Philly was delayed 2 hrs (which was how long my layover it LA was supposed to be) so I had to make a quick sprint in LAX over to the Air New Zealand terminal. Surprisingly, my checked luggage made it on the plane too! After landing in NZ and having my tent and fishing gear searched by a bio terrorism guard and his dog I caught the 6am Airbus to Central Auckland for $16NZ and had breakfast with a couple (Pete and Suzanne) from Washington State. I saw the ACB Hostel on the opposite corner and since I had not made any prior reservations, I decided to split ways and go in search of a room. Although there were no dorm beds available until later, they did let me use the shower. I was thankful, but quickly reminded of the funk that comes with some hostel bathrooms! hahah I ended
up staying for 4 days/nights in Auckland and met some good people while I was there; namely J., Miriam, Thibault, Lasse, Emily, Bo, and Erwin! We spent our evenings in the Globe Bar downstairs and our days crossing paths on the street, at the parks, or at the beaches around town. I tried to mix business with pleasure as I applied for 5 engineering jobs with Heavy Highway Contractors, sorted out a local cell phone, and looked for a used car to take me where I wanted to go.
Auckland is the largest city in New Zealand with over 1.2 million people accounting for more than 25% of the country's population. It is the Financial Capital as well, full of sky scrapers, Banks, Buisiness Headquarters, and nationalities from all over Asia and the Pacific Islands. The city is hip, clean, and modern, situated on the Pacific Ocean dotted with stretches of beach, marinas, and lots of sail boats floating just offshore. The ACB Hostel was located in the heart of Auckland, just a 1/2 block from the Sky Tower, and a couple more blocks to the Viaduct Harbour and the sea. The harbour is full of upscale restaurants, bars,
and some of the largest sail boats in the Pacific. Alloy Yachts of New Zealand was commissioning their luxurious new 58.4m (just over 191ft!!) Superyacht, the Kokomo III while I was there. I don't know anything about sailing but it was impressive!
I spent another day checking out the local Rugby fields, parks, and the Victoria Park Market which was full of local artisans pottery, sculpture, art and jewelry. Albert Park was the closest park to the hostel and is situated on a hillside surrounded by giant old Oak, Fig, and Ombu Trees which block out the city except for its tallest buildings. It was also the site of the city’s Chinese Lantern Festival, which is 14 days after the Chinese New Year, and was decorated with papier mache lanterns, silk sculptures, farm animals and food and drink vendors. I spent a couple afternoons there lazing in the sun and one evening checking out the festival with friends.
Travel is expensive in New Zealand with bus trips to nearby towns running $20 - $30, so one of my first priorities was buying a car. There are a lot of used car lots in Auckland, but the cars were
mostly newer models and more than I wanted to pay. I did find a backpacker car market down an alley off of Karangahape Road (known as K-Road for some reason) full of well used campervans and station wagons. A little to well used for my liking so I turned to the hostel staff for advice and they hooked me up with Bevan at the Amtec Auto Centre who sent someone to pick me up. We haggled over the price on older model subaru wagon but in the end I decided to leave Auckland to find cheaper cars elsewhere.
We had one last night in Auckland and the next morning I loaded up in a rental car with 2 dutch guys (Bo and Erwin) and we headed south...
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Phytolacca dioica (Ombu)
MMMM...I hear the leaves are tasty....JUST KIDDING they're sort of poisonous!! HA. Aahhh...the Subaru Wagon...those were the days eh Bones?? There was a time....when only the classiest gents in Morgantown would be seen behind the wheel of such a magnificent machine!! and seriously...stay away from those leaves... GO 'EERS!!