Auckland

27/02/12-02/03/12

My last bus ride in New Zealand took me to Auckland, where I was going to be staying with some family relatives till the end of my stay in NZ. I hadn’t planned on arriving so early in Auckland but that’s the way things go. After dropping off my stuff I was whisked straight up to the top of One Tree Hill (now minus the tree) to get an excellent overview of the city. The Auckland region is filled with volcanic cones, there are over 40 of them scattered around. From the top you could get 360 degree views of the surroundings. After we heading south to another one called Mount Wellington before we heading to the local McDonalds to meet another of my relations.

On my first full day we headed west to the black sand beach of Muriwai. There out on the bare rocks is a large Gannet colony where chicks are currently being raised before they make their epic journey across the ocean to Australia before returning several years later to have their own offspring. After a walk along the beach we headed inland to the Waitakere ranges to see some of the impressive kauri trees which have amazing girth sizes, the biggest one of which at this park measures nearly 7 metres. One of the largest in New Zealand takes 12 people holding hands to circle its truck! Later on the way home we followed the road around the coast near the city centre pass places such as St Heliers Bay.

A morning ferry ride across the harbour took me to the little village town of Devonport nestled between the cones of two volcanoes. One of these on the edge of the coast is called North Head and has been continually used as a defensive position to defend the port. There is still evidence of this left in the form of old mutation tunnels and concrete emplacements scattered across the cone. I was quite surprised to find these kind of defences existed in New Zealand which has seen threats from Russia, Germany and Japan in the modern era. Also in Devonport is the Navy museum which we paid a quick visit to in the afternoon.

A day to myself as I was dropped off in the morning at the Domain, the site of the Auckland war memorial museum. It contains material on a variety of pacific nations including a large collection of Maori objects as well as national history elements. It also functions as the cities war memorial with the top floor containing names of those killed in conflicts around the war. In the afternoon I ventured through the Parnell area of the city to look at some of the old architecture of the buildings including the old wooden cathedral which is now dwarfed by its modern replacement.

Another nice day as I once again jumped on a ferry this time to be taken to Rangitoto Island which is the result of an old volcanic eruption out at the edge of the harbour. The shape of the cone can be seen throughout the city lying off the shore. The main activity on the island is to take in the view from the summit so immediately after docking I began the climb up to the top diverting off at one point to look at some lava caves along the way. After a steady climb as the island is egg shaped I got an amazing view at the summit looking back at the city centre and the Auckland region. It was a fine clear day so it couldn’t have been more prefect. Later I walked to the adjoining Motatapu Island which is joined by a causeway. The different in the two islands is absolute, were as Rangitoto is littered with black volcanic rock and trees, Motatapu is completely covered with green grass and livestock. On my way back to the ferry I was hoping to check out a Second World War mine control centre on Rangitoto but after following the path by the coast to it I discovered the pathway off to the site was closed.

03/03/12-08/03/12

Today was the day that the weathermen predicted that New Zealand would be hit by a mega ‘weather bomb’ bringing with it serve rain and strong gusts. The weather front had made its way across the Tasman weather causing the east coast of Australia to be effected by floods. With this prediction I decided to spend the day in the city centre, in the morning I headed to the city library to do some travel booking. In the afternoon I crossed the street to the art gallery to have a look around especially to see the famous Maori portrait paintings it housed. Of course like all good storm warnings when I left the gallery it was to bright clear skies with only faint gusts of warm. With the good weather I took the time to do some sightseeing popping into the Skytower, the tallest structure in the southern hemisphere and down to the quay side where they were busy preparing to host the Great Ocean Race crews who were due in the next weekend.

Sunday resulted in me going to the morning service at my host’s local Baptist church, which in fact was housed in a warehouse. It was the first time I had attended a Sunday service probably since my days in the Cubs when we used to go fortnightly so it was a fresh experience for me. The service to me seemed very American in its form, with modern hymns performed by guitars and keyboards accompanied by an overhead projector displaying the lyrics. This was a different service as well as it mainly involved the introduction of new person’s to the church involving at one point a chat show style Q&A session. As a new face I was picked out at the beginning to introduce myself, but this did result in a melted chocolate bar. I was surprised that no hymns I recognised were sang but without an organ I guess they can’t be reproduced on a guitar, now simple chord hymns are the norm. With everything now days churches have to move with the times especially if they are going to attract the younger generation were everything is received in a visual format. Watching people passionately singing and saying prayers, being very animated and connected you might think would have a positive effect, but for me it just highlighted my lack of religious faith, it only further dispelled any belief I might have had in an almighty God. I guess that’s just one of the side-effects you experience when you travel aboard especially to some of the poorest countries in the world, life is what it is, and you have to make the best of what it throws at you.

Another day, another ferry as this time I was on my way to Waiheke Island which is a comparable length to the Isle of Wight back home. On disembarking at the port I turned round to look back where I had come from to find that the entrance to the harbour perfectly framed the city centre. I choose to do a coastal walk which went around the north coast of the island taking in some isolated bays and rocky outcrops. It truly was a coastal walk, I don’t think one part was level for even one metre, but it was a welcome challenge after several days having not done a proper walk. It took me to the beaches next to the first town on the island, I think it was the first shell beach I had seen in New Zealand, shells of all variety littered the yellow sand. After I headed south to walk along another beach before venturing along the town’s main road back in the direction of the port. On the way back I decided to take a walk through a nature reserve but this turned out to be a nightmare due to the swarms of cricket like animals that lived in the bushes that ran either side of the path. Every bush I passed resulted in a swarm of insects jumping out and attaching themselves either to my face or hair. After several minutes of this I had had enough and ran the rest of the distance to the end of the track cursing as I went. Luckily no one met me coming the other way; I must have been a picture fleeing between the bushes!

Auckland is surrounded by two oceans, the Tasman and the Pacific, today I did a coast to coast walk which took me from one to the other finishing up at the harbour next to the city centre. The walk was around 16km long; on route I passed around One Tree Hill leaving the summit as I had already been to the top. Instead I waited till I hit Mount Eden to do a summit walk; Mount Eden is the highest volcanic cone in the region at just over 300m. The views from the top were spectacular providing all round 360 degree sights of the whole region. After I moved on to the Domain where I stopped off to have lunch watching the local school kids playing cricket on the greens before moving on to the city centre. That evening I was invited round to my host’s son’s house to meet his family and my distant relatives. His youngest son invited me out to play football down at his church so after borrowing a pair of trainers and a sports shirt I was soon joining in the 5 aside matches inside their sports hall – best to say that I think I will stick to playing hockey!

After several trips by myself today my hosts took me down south of Auckland to visit Duder Park on the east coast. The park is situated on a peninsula that sticks out to give great views of the surrounding islands and coastline. Next we continue north following the coast before stopping off near to a place called Maraetai (‘My-right-eye’ – An easy name to remember). After a quick walk and ice cream we continued on to Pine Harbour where you can catch a ferry to the city centre and is the area of some luxury properties.

My last full day in New Zealand and of course it had to be rainy, after being so luckily with the weather throughout my journey it’s a shame it didn’t last for one more day. That afternoon I took my hosts out for lunch to thank them for letting me stay while they treated me to a spider drink – ice cream and coke in a glass (one to look out for in the future!). That evening the weather cleared up with the clouds parting to reveal a full moon and more fixing for my trip the Southern Cross star consolation which can only be seen in the southern hemisphere and is on the flag of New Zealand. What can I say, New Zealand has been amazing, definitely my best travel experience so far. Everything from the scenery to the people stunned me time and time again, just went you think you have seen the best that New Zealand can offer you move on to another incredible location. I definitely have taken it to heart, hopefully the health and safety culture we suffer back home wouldn’t take hold, a truly liveable place.