24/01/2023 Auckland
What to expect
Auckland
Kind kiwis
We’ve only been to New Zealand for one hour and we have already met three such kind people! We didn’t know that we needed a bus card in order to go on the bus. However, both bus drivers to the city centre let us hop on for free! Furthermore, another passenger on the second bus gave us his “Hop card” to use it for the next bus ride. This might have happened in Canada too, but definitely not in Germany đ. Just saying.
Excited about our time in New Zealand
After we had checked into the BK hostel for the next three nights, we went out for Thai food around the corner. We were pretty pumped for our road trip in the next five weeks in New Zealand.
25/01/2023 Auckland
Do a free walking tour
Today we started the day how we’d start most days in a new big city: with a free walking tour. The guide was very good and made the tour around New Zealand’s biggest city very informative.
Good first impression of the city
Afterwards we went out to a restaurant which the guide had recommended (“Bun and Bao”).
To celebrate our first full day back in the NZ, we went to a bar to have a typical NZ beer (Speight’s) and a NZ wine.
26/01/2023 Auckland
Eat a traditional meat pie
The tour guide from yesterday kept talking about these meat pies that every kiwi loves to eat. Since I am a pescetarian, Blake tried them on his own at a cafĂ© called “Pie Fee”. I went for the sweet apple pie instead. We justified it by telling ourselves that we needed some energy for today’s activity.
Walk from coast to coast
After walking over 18 000 steps yesterday to explore Auckland, we were ambitious again today. Since Auckland is surrounded by water on two sides, you can walk from coast to coast in about six hours. Starting our day late as usual, we knew it was going to be a challenge. But we were up for it!
Hike up Mt Eden
On the way we passed many nice parks and also hiked up the highest natural point in Auckland: Mt Eden/ Maungawhau. The view from there over Auckland’s skyline in the background was spectacular and our pies tasted even better after four hours of walking.
Unfortunately, after another hour of walking we had to admit that we were not going to make it to the other coast, since we wanted to attend a special event tonight. Instead of taking the bus back to town, we walked back for another hour, relaxed at the hostel and got ready for our event tonight.
See a comedy show
Tonight it was a first for me: we got to see a comedy show with six different kiwi comedians. I honestly thought I would find this really awkward. But we both laughed a lot and it was highly entertaining.
Listen to live music in an Irish Pub
To finish a great day, we got some drinks in a very lively Irish Pub, called “Danny Doolans”, where we enjoyed listening to live music.
Resumé Auckland
Although we had both been to New Zealand before several times separately, we had never really explored Auckland before. We both really enjoyed the city, its cleanliness and its many suburbs with lots of cute cafés, restaurants and bars, even though I am still not a huge fan of big cities.
A new adventure
But now we were both excited to start our 32-day-road trip around New Zealand’s North and South Island. If only we would have checked the weather forecast before heading up north the next day…
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