Another crazy thing I’ve noticed about people down here is that they are barefoot often and at places I’d never think of going without shoes. Not only do they walk down the street shoeless, they stroll casually through the grocery store and hop on the bus, too. No shoes, no shirt, no service is clearly not a rule down in these parts. …
I’ve been walking non-stop and it has yet to show off in dropping pounds. (One can hope it will pay off eventually…) Since I arrived on Monday evening, I have spent every afternoon out and about seeing the sights of Auckland. Tuesday I walked forever attempting to find things that I needed – an internet café, food, etc. etc. Wednesday, I climbed up Mount Eden, an inactive volcano, a short distance from where I’m staying. The view is amazing and you can see all the way into the city, around it out, out into the harbor. It’s quite narrow in the Auckland area so you can see the Pacific Ocean and the Tasmanian Sea from this point. I also checked out several of the adorable shops in “Mt Eden Village” shopping area. There are several fun looking places to eat, tons of little boutiques, and I even found two thrift stores! On Thursday, I explored all around Auckland’s harbor. [I was quite sad to discover there are no beaches nearby and easily accessible. I will have to plan on how to get out to them next week.] I visited the Maritime Museum while I was downtown, which proved to be quite interesting. Friday I was lucky enough to have a day off to enjoy around town. One of the main attractions in Auckland is the Sky Tower. The tower is the tallest structure (I think) in New Zealand and you can ride up and look all around. Of course, they have a revolving restaurant (which I didn’t eat at! too upscale for a backpacker) where you can enjoy the vista views. New Zealand is all about adventure activities and you can do the Sky Jump, which is really more of a fall, of 192 meters off the Sky Tower ~ www.skyjump.co.nz. It’s not one of the ever-so-popular-bungee jumps that are frequent in NZ, it is more of a free fall to a drop zone. Being intensely afraid of falling (I won’t even go on roller coasters at Six Flags), have no fear I didn’t even consider attempting this. (I did however, score myself an authentic Sky Team Crew shirt at the Red Cross thrift store for $0.50NZ so I can commemorate myself watching others fall from the sky.) On Friday, I also visited Auckland City Hall – a 19th century building that was recently restored to all of its splendor. Of course, I was too late to catch the tour. Better luck next time. Outside city hall is Aotea Square, which hosts a fantastic market on Fridays & Saturdays. I enjoyed wandering through all the booths and had to restrain myself from buying some of the chic clothing that many solo-designers hawked. I figure, there is always next week to return and try to score some more stuff. After Aotea Square, I walked all the way down to Victoria Park market. This market was much more geared toured tourists and not nearly as exciting and fun as Aotea Square. Oh well. I finished off my afternoon by checking out Albert Park. Albert Park is interspersed with the University of Auckland’s campus. Albert Park is old and historic and in magnificent condition. The tremendously manicured lawns and trees are landscaped with a whole range of statues, fountains, and even a gazebo. After all that walking, I was so exhausted that I re-heated some leftover food and vegged out on the couch for the evening.
That's totally wild about the no shoes thing, very interesting. I thought of something interesting I wanted to know about New Zealand, what type of beer do they drink there? Are mixed drinks the same or have different weird names? LOVE YA!
ReplyDeletePs- Tim got a kick out of the blog when he read it yesterday!