It's been a quick three days in Auckland but I've taken advantage of my time here! I landed at 5am to rain and a dark sky... I had surprisingly slept for almost the entire 13hour flight from SF so I was up for anything. I met a girl on the bus who was headed to the same hostel as me so it was nice to have company from the start.
We dropped our bags at the hostel, went out to breakfast and did a mini early morning walking tour of the city - it is very small and sits right on the water. The light rain was a disappointment but it didn't bother us too much. After we checked in, we went to the Auckland museum which has information about NZ's history, Maori culture, and a large natural history section as well - an easy way to kill some time. Had a nice easy night after such a long trip!
The next morning I walked to the ferry dock at the end of my street and bocked a ticket to an island in the harbor called Waiheke. It was a 45 min ride and you got a 1.5hour tour when you got there - it was supposed to be one of the more beautiful islands in the harbor. It started to rain as soon as I bought my ticket and there were no refunds - surprise, surprise. But, I had an hour to kill and by the time I got on the ferry the sky had cleared and it was beautiful weather. The island was absolutely amazing and I spent the day with an older French man and four old couples - perfect.
--Sorry for the extreme delay but I have found an internet cafe that is open past 5:30 -- everything closes at 5:30 here so it has been hard to keep up with the journal!!
Its been a while since New Zealand, but I'll post some pictures today too if I can figure it out!
I spent that second day on Waiheke and the sun came out as soon as we docked on the island -- the rain came once more when we were on the bus but quickly passed. It was absolutely amazing! We had coffee on the beach and then moved to a winery that we had to ourselves! It was the end of winter there so we had the place to ourselves -- people are waiting for the warmer weather but it worked out perfectly for me!
When I got back to Auckland a good friend I studied with in Uppsala drove up to meet me. He took me around the city and showed me some of the nightlife - I had to sample some more NZ wine of course. The following day I made him take me outside of the city to show me some of the west coast and the infamous sheep farms that cover NZ. We drove through an enormous national park 30min from the city that spits you out at unbelievable beaches you could never imagine are so close to a city!
I called it an early night and was up early for the airport the next day! A very short trip that was well worth it!
