We spent a very ‘normal’ feeling week in Auckland, working and cooking in a spacious and well equipped apartment in a city suburb neighborhood, taking long walks and public busses around town. It helps that we can easily communicate with everyone, read signs, and know what we are buying at the grocery store.
We landed very early on a public holiday, Easter Monday. Quite a few things were closed, busses were limited, and those restaurants that were open had a holiday surcharge on pricing. Luckily we were mostly in the mood for our favorite free way to explore a city, walking.
Auckland is home to an unbelievable 50 volcano cones, and we climbed at least 3 of them. On Day1, we started with ‘One Tree Hill’ which has an obelisk, not a tree on top. Next we stopped at the most famous, Mount Eden, with a beautiful view of downtown. Finally on the weekend, we took a long run, got breakfast out, and climbed Mangere Mountain for a view back to our home turf.
The CBD is small and compact, with most of the same stores you see in a typical American downtown. We stopped by the fish market, which was open Easter, and got some supplies to cook during the week.
On Sunday, we returned to catch a ferry out to Waiheke Island in the Hauraki Gulf. It was a beautiful ferry trip out and we got to hike along the ‘tramping tracks’ to some wineries, beaches, and the small town. Waiheke is famous for its oysters and French style wines. Of course, we tried both.
Though it is autumn and cooling down, we really enjoyed the mild weather around 70 every day. It provided a nice break between mostly-chilly Japan and our trip to the colder, wetter South Island. We’ll be there for 2 weeks, and very excited for the Lord of the Rings-inspiring scenery.