Auckland - New Zealand. What's it like?
Well, let me get straight to the point...It's not all that. At least not really to look at, I didn't see many buildings that stood out and it reminded me of London in terms of the weather. Grey sky's with rain. However, unlike London I felt safe walking everywhere. Don't get me started on the acid attacks and daily, yes daily stabbings in London. What a shit hole.
Auckland does have a few places up it's sleeve though which I am willing to bet you won't know at least one of them but lets start with the obvious.
The Sky Tower
Like many tall buildings, this one has a pretty impressive light display during the dark hours. Personally I didn't go up there, I was saving my money for stuff I really wanted to do and had already walked the Q1 tower in surfers paridise - Gold coast, Australia. But this tower has an experience where you can jump off it!
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Your attached to a harness and fally tummy first to the ground. Pretty scary! Again if I hadn't already done bungee jumping and skydiving or simply had more money, I would of done it.
Mount Eden
I didn't realise how many volcanoes were in New Zealand, apparently there are at least 53 volcanoes and that's just around the Auckland area! 53! Some are active which is terrifying when you think about it such as Rangitoto across the water. Mount Eden is more of a hill than a volcano, it's covered in grass but you can cleary see the crater in the middle which is huge! From the top you get a pretty good view of the city too and it's only from there you start to see other volcanoes dotted round the city.
Number One Pancakes
The best pancake place ever, $5 for a take away. I got the chocolate and believe me it's yum!
One tree Hill
A bit further out is one tree hill, this isn't as high but it's larger and in my opinion has an even better view. There used to be only 1 tree panted on the hill but it's safe to say there's quite a few on the way up, lots of sheep too.
Auckland Museum
This museum is definately worth checking out, the museum itself is literally built on a volcano which is unnerving as you walk around inside. It's also arguably better than the one in Wellington which gets all the attention. Auckland museum has much more to see in my opinion and the model's are great! I've never seen models as accurate as these. Are great whites really that wide!
To give you an idea of scale I'm 6ft 1, pretty big wouldn't you agree mr penguin?
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The Outskirts
As we stayed at a couch surfers place just outside the city, we realised how different it was. Kohimarama has beach, beautiful blue water and calm atmosphere. I felt like I got a taxi back to Australia's quieter beach towns.
From here you can also view Rangitoto A big active volcano Island on the other side of the water.
An odd dicovery
A freind of mine owned a drone, it crashed somewhere in this location and offered to pay us if we could find it. It wasn't a cheap drone, probably about $2000 and he's such a decent bloke, so off we went.
I hadn't been in New Zealand long and as I said before Auckland isn't the most pretty city but go for a drive and you'll soon begin to see what new zealand has to offer.
As we approached the location, it poured down with rain. Not exacly an instagram worth day trip...or was it?
As the rain began to settle I saw this
I've never seen a rainbow that clear or close before, you can see my freind literally walking inderneath it. What an unexpected experience!
Sadly we couldn't find the drone, it crashed right next to the waters edge somewhere with a very slippery steep bank. I didn't want to risk falling in, not because I'm a weak swimmer, no.
Because of this.
A death trap if ever I saw one, you have no idea how steong the current is surround this this and even though we were about 100-150m away I didn't want to find out and didn't fancy falling to my death all for the sake of a drone which wasn't even mine.
What else is there? Well surrounding Auckland there are many places to see. Too many to kist in one post for sure. But you need to be willing to get a car...or boat to get there...
The best is still to come!
Thanks for reading 😊