I began and ended my trip in New Zealand in Auckland, the biggest city in the country. If I were to give it a guess, it is probably only as big, or a little bit bigger than Canberra or Baltimore, MD. Its main street is called Queen St. and it is filled with a wide array of shops. After a $70 cab ride, I checked into my overpriced hostel and went to visit Queen St. My hostel is on the outer edge of downtown, but a 15-20 minute walk down one of the streets like Queen St. will take you straight to the harbor. In downtown Auckland, there is also the Sky Tower: the city’s biggest attraction. It is just a high tower that you can go to the top of, and from there you can see the entire city and its surroundings. Also at the top, there is a café and a revolving fancy restaurant. One also has the opportunity to walk on the outside or base jump off of the tower for an additional fee. I did neither. I went to the sky tower the first night I was there and afterward, I went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. Interestingly enough (or not) as I tried to get an alcoholic beverage at the restaurant, I needed to show a passport for proper identification. My dinner was left margarita-less. That was basically all I did that night, for the next morning I woke up to pick up my car and begin my trip across New Zealand.
As I mentioned before, I began and ended my trip here in Auckland. Seeing as I still had time left over after my incredible trip and dropping off my car, I still had about a day and a half to explore the city. I returned to Auckland on a Saturday at 9 am and my flight left Sunday at 4. So after checking into my hostel (again) that Saturday, I headed down to the harbor and took a 10:30 am ferry to Rangitoto. Rangitoto is a young volcanic island that formed right off of the coast of Auckland only five or six hundred years ago. It is only a half an hour ride to the island. In it’s past, people used to live there and it also served as an army outpost during World War 2. Today, it is just a national park. It is also connected to a smaller island by a narrow causeway. The main thing to do there (and what I did) was to hike to the summit and crater of Rangitoto. From the causeway where we were dropped off, it is a three hour out and back hike. Along the way, you can make a half-hour detour to the lava caves. These caves were formed by lava flowing through them. It was pretty cool to see because you could actually go through these tubes; although at some points it did get pretty tight in those tunnels and I managed to hit my head twice. Afterward, I reached the summit where I had views of all of Auckland. At that point, where I saw all I could see, U turned around and went back to the ferry. It was cold and rainy that day. Instead of staying until 4 as planned, I stayed until 2:30. I went back to the hostel and saw a movie at the theater- which was convenient across the street.
The next day I had a flight at 4, but I still had a morning to kill. I went to the Auckland gallery of art- a nice FREE museum. It was a cool place and it actually ended up having a bit of everything. There was New Zealand art, Picassos, Renaults, Goyas, and a lot of weird contemporary art. The coolest exhibit was the Maori portraits. They were life-like paintings that looked almost like photographs of a few Maori elders during the early 20th century. It was extremely cool and well done. After spending time at the gallery, I took a Skybus to the airport.
If I wanted to, I probably could have found more to do in Auckland, but I didn’t. In my opinion, the city is good, but it’s not what you come to see in New Zealand. You come for nature and adventure. While fun, visiting Auckland is like ordering a burger at a fried chicken place.