Auckland: 29 August - 3 September

Kia ora! or "Hello" in Maori! My adventure has finally started! It was a long travel day with flights and layovers, GRB->ORD->LAX->AKL, but I am finally here! So Auckland, New Zealand... the countries largest city with around a third of the population, it is a big city with people walking everywhere, you can cross the intersections diagonally, and all the different types of shops you would find in any big city, from very cheap to expensive.

Everything I brought for a year....not enough or too much?!

Speaking of expensive...WOW! My bank account is not going to like this city. It kind of scared me the first week because of how expensive EVERYTHING is. Good to hear that this is the most expensive city in the country. 

So my first hostel experience was alright, it is called X-Base: ACB. It was kind of a hole and crowded....but the first two nights I have a six bedroom dorm to myself. Pro: easily cured my jetleg and got some much needed rest, Con: hard to meet people. 

My first hostel!

During my orientation at IEP, the organization that is here for help if I need them, I met a girl from New Jersey/Texas, Dana. She was a very nice girl and it was nice to have her around to travel around Auckland with and figure out the bank account, phone situation, what to do next, etc. I spent the next few days with her until she left on Saturday, 4 September.

On Tuesday, 31 August, we took a free tour of Auckland with a bussing company called Kiwi Expereience. It was a great way to get out of the downtown part of Auckland and see the surrounding area. We walked under to the middle of the Auckland Harbour Bridge; yes, it is spelt right :) where this pic was taken...

Then we drove across the bridge and went to a town across the harbor (I'll spell it the US way now) to a town called Devonport. It is a nice small little town and I had my first NZ Fish and Chips! Yum!! This town also houses NZ's Navy, the two boats they have... they also had an old WWII bunker and a large disappearing gun in the ground that would of been used there too. It had some great views of the Pacific Ocean and Rangitoto Island, NZ's newest volcano. From there we went across the harbor again and found a beach to walk along and to another WWII bunker with more amazing views.

The end of the rainbow!

The rest of the week I spent mostly around downtown. On Thursday, 2 September, I went to the Auckland War Memorial Museum, where I learned a lot about the Maori history, the countries WWI and WWII history, and about the land and animals that live/lived on the country. By the weekend I was ready to get out of Auckland and see what the real NZ had to offer. So on Friday, 3 September I took a 35 minute ferry to the Waiheke Island.