A Day in Auckland

Tuesday 6 July 2010

It was so cold in the room, it was hard to sleep. It didn't help that I was sleeping on wet hair. I'm surprised it didn't freeze solid. I asked for the free Stray Tour at the desk last night. A while ago, I tried to book this tour, but they said I had to check with the hostel. I made sure the tour was running during the time we would be in Auckland. I emailed the hostel to book the tour, and they told me to let them know a week in advance. Well, I did that via email and never received a response. So when we got to the hostel, I told them the story, but they said they didn't get my email. Figures. They told me to talk to them in the morning and they would book the tour for me.

So that is just what we did, and what did I find out? Stray doesn't do tours on Tuesday! I was so upset, because I arranged everything so we could get the tour. The lady at the desk was so nice. She said she would book us another tour that basically does the same thing, it is just through another company, KiwiExperience. We were able to get that, so that was cool. There were a couple differences to the tour, but it was still a good overview of Auckland. It was actually a perfect tour, because it gave Mom a good overview of Auckland, yet I got to see some different things in this tour.

Before the tour started, we walked up to Albert Park. This park is way uphill, so it was kind of a hike to get there. It was starting to rain, so we walked down to an Art Gallery, but it was closed. So then we walked up and down Queens St (the main road in downtown Auckland). Mom got to experience the unique crossings.

Then we got picked up. Two girls wanted to come back in time for their flight, so our tour was shortened. We thought that was a bit unfair, but it was free. We first went across the Auckland bridge. It was quite a different experience this time around. I was constantly warning Mom to tighten her helmet since the wind is so strong. Well, there was absolutely no wind at all. Even though it was raining, 5 people went bungee jumping (the first time people on this tour have been bungee jumping in 3 weeks!

Then we went to Devonport. It was a really cute town with nice buildings. The guide said Auckland used to have that style, but when the 80's came, they tore down the buildings and changed the style. Quite unfortunate.

We stopped here for 30 minutes. We shared fish and chips for a total of $6 and there was plenty for the two of us! This was our first meal besides peanut butter on this trip. It was AMAZING! Then we walked along water for a while. It was quite pretty. I know I say that a lot.

Then we went to Mount Victoria. It had spectacular views of the city of Auckland. We were in or near a naval base. He said they had enough ammunition to fire for about 9 minutes. A while back, they believed the Russians would attack. New Zealand had cannons that could shoot 6 kilometres, but the Russians have cannons that could shoot 7 kilometres. So not a fair fight if it had happened. There were mushroom like things all over the ground that were for ventilation.

We were here for a really long time and Mom and I really didn't know what to do, so we ended up going to a lookout, but it was so windy, we were afraid we would be blown over the edge. We didn't stay long.

After the tour, I took Mom to the skytower, hoping there were be jumpers. I guess the weather just wasn't enticing. Then I took her to Victoria Market and we did a little shopping. Then I took her to the Auckland Domain. We wandered around a while and then went up to the museum. It was starting to get dark, so the sky was spectacular.

Getting back was interesting. I was leading, and I ended up taking Mom down a motorway. Not exactly ideal for pedestrians. We made it okay though. We went back down to Albert Park to eat our dinner and then headed back to the hostel where we met Alison. She went on a tour that went from Auckland to Rotarua, Waitomo Caves (glow worm caves), a kiwi reserve, and back to Auckland all in the same day. That is a lot to do in one day. She said it was perfect for her though. She loved it.