A Day in Auckland, New Zealand

1-21-10

So…I sleep in a canoe. My bed sinks WAY down in the middle to where my stomach is at the same edge as the tip of the mattress. They guys took the bottom bunks, so Alison and I took the top. Even Alison said she it looked like I was in a canoe. Also, the bars on the ladder really hurt our feet. Once we get up, we never want to come down. We probably will have bruises on our feet just from climbing up and down the ladder.

Well, last night, when Alison and I were trying to figure out what to do for going to Wellington, the guys kept coming in and out of the room. Finally, we went to bed around 9:30 (I know pretty early). I tried to go to sleep, but it was difficult, especially when obnoxious people were talking outside our door.

So for breakfast, we went downstairs. Alison had 2 breakfast vouchers, so we ate for free. If we didn’t have the vouchers, it would have been $6 for cornflakes and toast. Not exactly gourmet. Then we were told to put our dishes in the kitchen. We noticed some of the dishes (when we started breakfast) did not seem the cleanest. We found out why when we went into the kitchen. We had to clean the dishes ourselves. Meaning use soap, wash with a nasty dishcloth lying in the sink, and dry. Well, you can probably imagine how many people really do all that in a backpackers hostel. We decided not to eat there again.

Then we went on our search for phones. The first place we went to was closed. The second place didn’t have a whole lot, so then we went to the train station. They did not have any availability for Monday (to go to Wellington), so we decided we would leave on Saturday. We paid for the tickets and went back to the first phone place. We got our phones and did pay as you go. They don’t have a billion plans like they do in the US. We just purchased the phones, the SIM card, and topped off our phones. We might make each other our best mates so we can call and text for free…I know, me texting…what a scary idea.

Then Alison went in her building to work on her CV and I went back in the room. We paid for one more night in Auckland, and I tired to figure out how to use our phone. It had a lot more stuff than my past phone (which probably isn’t surprising). I was getting thoroughly confused for a while, but kind of got it figured out. I still had several questions though. When Alison came back, we decided to go to a different Vodafone store (that is the name of the phones we bought and there are Vodafone stores around every corner), because we didn’t want to ask the same guys more questions. So we kind of got our questions answered, but we thought of new questions. So again we went to another Vodafone store so we didn’t have to look stupid to the same people. I guess we would just look stupid to multiple people. We kept going to different phone stores with different questions until we felt we really understood what we got ourselves into.

Then we bought dinner and ate at our favorite spot, the windowsill in our room overlooking the city. Then we walked along the harbor for a while. It has been raining a lot. One second it is bright and sunny. The next it is pouring down rain. You can’t predict anything!

Later, we went to the Auckland Domain and the art museum. We attempted this yesterday, but failed. We made it today. The reason we missed the art museum was because it was under construction and we weren’t allowed to go in. So then we explored the paths of the Auckland Domain. It was so beautiful. It’s like a dark foresty area, then a flower garden, then a museum and greenery. There was a pond with ducks. It was so peaceful and isolated. Then we got a little lost and it started to rain. We started walking very quickly hoping it would stop soon, since we were not close to any awning or building. It did eventually stop, but we decided to make it a night and go to bed. (Here are a couple pictures of the Auckland Domain).

When we were getting ready for bed, I tried to open our locker. Our locker is really difficult to open, and you have to pull down really hard. Well, I pulled down really hard, and it landed really hard on my foot. So I have a nice fat bruise on my foot. I also feel like I am going to be sore the rest of my life!

So there is a party going on for charity. The hostel is giving out $2000 worth of free alcohol in hopes to get people buying more. So we are nervous at how this will affect tonight’s noise level.

So a quick fact, Auckland’s crosswalks are different. Usually people walk with traffic. If the cars are going East to West or West to East, the people do as well at the same time. Well in Auckland, the cars go East to West, West to East. Then they go North to South and visa versa. Then the people go East, West, North, South, North East, South West….so it looks like they cross in and X. Kind of unique. I don’t know if that made sense. Maybe you will just have to see it to understand. Maybe this picture of the view from our window will give you a better picture. There are even diagonal lines for people to cross diagonally.

I know this has only been our second day here, but I feel like we have been here a lot longer than that! We are still trying to get used to things here. I feel like everything in life we have learned does not apply here like measurements in distance, time (military), temperature, the way we drive on the road, language, how to cross the street…I could go on…I’m just so glad Alison with me.

Well...time for bed.