Hi Everyone!
T and I made it safely and in comfort to New Zealand. We really lucked out on the flight over. We ended up having our own row on the plane, and that row happened to be Air New Zealand’s “sky couch” product. We had a cozy little bed to sleep on and an hour shorter than normal flight! Win, win in our books.
After arriving in Auckland, we went through the thorough customs search because we had some camping gear with us, and they are very strict about your gear being clean so as to not contaminate their natural environment.
After taking a bus to our hostel, we went across the street to a little cafe called Fred’s for a delicious cappuccino and a snack befoe we could get into our room. Definitely a great and delicious way to help with the jet lag!
Once we got sorted at the hostel, we set out to explore Auckland on foot. We walked to the city center via the Victoria Market (interesting market with great little cafes and restaurants in what looked to be an old factory of sorts). We continued on to check out the Sky Tower, then to Albert Park, and then to the Civic Theatre to meet up with an old friend from college.
It’s kind of funny to fly halfway around the world to see an old friend, but it was quite enjoyable. Paul, T and I headed over to “Food Alley” on Queen St. and ate some delicious, yet well priced Indian food from one of the food stalls there. It basically has the feel of a food court, but some seriously delicious curry. Good food, good company, and six years worth of catching up to do made for a very enjoyable experience.
Paul was in the middle of his workday and had to head off to a meeting, so we parted ways, and T and I walked down to the harbor.
We stumbled upon a new ice cream shop that sold brownie ice cream sandwiches (a brownie, split in half with ice cream in the middle…pretty genius if you ask me!)
After devouring our treat, we walked through a bit more of the city to catch a bus to Mt. Eden for incredible (& free!) views of the city. It’s a bit of a hike up the extinct volcano (or you can drive), but quite enjoyable through the incredibly green landscape around an extinct volcano. Since we are on a budget, we opted to see the views of the city from here rather and going up in the Sky Tower, which was a great trade-off.
We made our way down the mountain, and walked the hour or so back to our hostel, rather than taking the bus. We think exploring a city by foot is the absolute best way to get the most out of a short stay in a city and always leaves us feeling satisfied with how much of the city we are able to see in a day.
We ended the evening with a visit to another food hall in the Ponsonby area, which was decent, but the one in the city center was a lot better. Ponsonby is really a great area to stay, with tons of quality restaurants, cafes, and bars all within a short walking distance. However, exhausted from our travels and a busy day, we decided to retire early to catch up on sleep.
[…] Arrived in Auckland & explored the […]