The last few days have been a nice chance to slow down. When I was booking this holiday I knew the first week or so would be pretty full on so I it was always the plan to take the first few days in Auckland to catch up on sleep and chill out. Mission accomplished on that front. I have had a good chance to explore Auckland. Auckland itself is massive so I should say I’ve had a good chance to explore Grey Lynn which contains the main cbd of Auckland. It really is a beautiful city.

While my apartment maybe misses the mark on comfort it is definitely in a prime location. I am across the street from the Sky Tower. It rises up through the surrounding skyline and is a great waypoint. Wherever I am I can’t really get lost, just follow the giant spire in the sky and I’ll be home. It weirded me out to see it up close. Firstly it’s by far the tallest building I’ve ever seen, looking up at it it seems to curve back on you like you’re in Inception. Secondly to see that it’s just made of concrete. I’m not sure what I thought it would be made out of but when you’re up close it looks like any other concrete structure. I haven’t had lunch up there yet though I do plan to. I do not plan to bungee jump off it that is a step too far for me.

From where I am the sky tower acts as the central point of the city, the rest of it sprawling downhill all the way down to the Viaduct Harbour. You can see the water kilometres away, framed by the sharp lines of the streets and skyline surrounding you. My daily route so far has been to get a great coffee (the coffee is really excellent) and doing a lap of the Viaduct Harbour before stopping for a lunch by the water and then back home for some reading and afternoon nap. The food along the harbour is great, I’ve had some really nice seafood, some sushi and udon as well. The south East Asian influences you see in Australian food are very similar here. I’ve had some good banh mi’s so far. Every street has 10 hole in the wall dumpling or Chinese places the hardest part is picking one to stop in.

The city always feels busy, bustling and alive (for better and worse) but it never crosses the line into overwhelming. You always have room to move around, there’s always a seat at every restaurant. It is much closer feeling to Brisbane than a Melbourne. The people are really lovely, albeit brisk, which is expected in a city. An odd thing is I can’t hear an accent. I’m sure everyone here has a kiwi accent but everyone I’ve spoken to so far sounds indistinguishable from an Australian. The culture is extremely close, obviously, but so far I have zero differences I can see between NZ and Australia. All the flora and fauna seem the same although I don’t think I’ve seen a single insect so far. I think as I venture further out towards Te Arai and then down to Wellington more differences will emerge.

At night I go for a walk and pick a random restaurant to eat at, then walk down and catch a late night movie before bed. Pretty good life to live. I wish I had more exciting things to talk about. I must say as much as it physically hurts to admit, I think Jesse is right in his avoidance of big cities in travel. Auckland seems like an incredible place to live. I could see myself living very happily in a little unit enjoying all the conveniences the city provides. But I’m not sure it, or almost any other city, is an amazing holiday destination. I don’t drink or enjoy nightlife which excludes me from a big part of a cities culture which I readily admit. I can’t put words to it but every experience just seems really commercial. I have plans to go to the usual places like the zoo, museum, aquarium and I have a day trip planned on an island just off the coast. All of that will be fun and I will enjoy it but it feels a little bit more hollow, in comparison to driving through the Tasmanian countryside, stopping wherever I want and finding hidden gems. I think this trip was always going to be used as a litmus test for what sort of travel I can endure and get through and what type of travel I even like. I think I am more of a wanderer than anything. I like being in wide open spaces where I can drive for 3 hours straight and through little towns, with maybe some weekend detours into cities rather than a full blown city holiday.

Last night I was awoken abruptly at 2:30am to the sound of a man screaming at the top of his lungs. I opened my window to the street below to see a homeless man sprinting up and down the street. That is culture.