It's finally time to start writing about my year and a half long adventure in New Zealand. Unfortunately, that journey starts in the least exciting city, Auckland. Auckland is the largest city in New Zealand, located in the North Island, but it really is nothing more spectacular than a big, generic city.
I was stuck there for a week as I tried to settle in, sort out my life in a new country, and wait for my traveling partner to arrive so we could hop on the Kiwi Experience bus. Since I honestly don't have enough to say about Auckland to fill a full entry, I'll be happy to also cover settling into NZ.
If this is somehow the first of my blog entries you have clicked on, I beg you to find another one to read beforehand. One where I actually had material to work with.
Day 1 Nomads Auckland & Discovering Countdown
I had arrived in Auckland from a delayed flight out of Byron Bay at 2:30 AM the previous night. By the time I went through customs and finally arrived at the bus stop near my hostel, it was 4 AM. Since it was a Saturday night, the streets were packed, and I felt very annoyed about all of this as I was dragging my gigantic suitcase through the streets exhausted. My new roommates in my 12 bed dorm at my favorite hostel chain, Nomads, were also not very happy when I had to turn on the lights at 4 in the morning to figure out which bed was free.
I generally like Nomads. They have some awesome unique hostels in certain locations (Bunk in Brisbane, Arts Factory in Byron, etc.) and even their standard hostels are way better than Base. This one was not my favorite Nomads ever, but it was alright aside from the cramped dorms. They had really large unisex bathrooms, an onsite bar, and a rooftop kitchen and hot tub. I loved eating meals on the roof and gathering a crowd of little birds by bribing them with crumbs. I'm good at making friends.
The most exciting part of my day was finding Countdown, the kiwi version of Woolworth's (a grocery store). What was so exciting was that, unlike their Aussie counterpart, they actually sold alcohol in the stores! And I realized that in New Zealand, you can actually buy a six-pack for $10 and it is cheaper than boxed wine! All of which meant: no more goon. Drinking finally became enjoyable again.
Day 2 City Exploration & Failing at Life
I had plans to take care of some simple tasks this day such as getting an IRD (tax) number so I'd be able to work. It sounded easy enough. Go to the post office, fill out a form, and wait for your number. No problem! Except what I hadn't realized is that in all the excitement of travel, I had turned 25 two weeks beforehand and my driver's license had expired.
Now I had to go to an actual IRD office, so I wandered over to the nearest one where I was told that it was the last day an official would be visiting that office and they were booked full. I'd have to go out to Takapuna Beach. I decided that was a plan for another day.
At least I could still go get a new NZ sim card for my phone and salvage some of the day... except of course I couldn't. My Nokia was locked to Australia. I went to a few shops, but it was too old a phone for anyone to unlock for me, so I was stuck buying a new one. In the end, I was talked into buying my first ever smartphone, a Samsung Galaxy Mini, since it was only $10 more than the cheap kind I usually buy. It was a love/hate relationship at first (how are you supposed to type on that tiny screen?!), but I got used to it.
On the bright side, my errands had taken me on a little city tour. I got my first look at the only building in Auckland worth seeing, the Skytower...
...and passed the Christmas decorations in Aotea Square.
Yeah, Auckland's not much to look at.
Day 3 Park Drinking
Wow, I'm starting to regret organizing this by daily activities. On my riveting third day in New Zealand, I went with my roommate to get $1 pizza slices at the hostel bar and then met up with some other backpackers to hang out around a statue in a nearby park and drink rum like a bunch of hobos.
Day 4 Takapuna Beach & Further Life Failure
My third attempt to get an IRD number failed as spectacularly as the first two. This time it was even more annoying, because I had taken a bus across the bridge to get to Takapuna Beach for my appointment. I had brought all of the documents they'd asked for, but they had an issue with the fact that my bank statement was from Australia and not New Zealand.
Of course, I hadn't opened a NZ bank account yet, so the lady suggested I go take care of that and then come back and she'd see me again. Unfortunately, every single bank I walked into wouldn't let me open an account without proof of address. A letter from my hostel would do, but my hostel was all the way back in the city, and I was not making two more trips back and forth to organize this. I gave up. Auckland was giving me nothing but trouble.
On a hilarious note, I got to see my first Auckland "beach". Despite how dingy and small it was compared to Australian beaches, it was 3x as crowded.
This picture is a poor representation of my claim.
Day 5 Trip Planning & Bar Crawl
Excitingly, my friend had arrived the night before! I took him to see the Skytower and consider the price of a base jump off the top (something neither of us could afford... so of course I ended up doing it two days later), then we went to the Mad Travel office in Nomads and planned out some buses, hostels, and tours for our next few weeks in the North Island.
That night we did the Frenzi pub crawl starting at the Nomads Fat Camel hostel down the street. We hit the Rock Bar, Globe Bar (at Base), and some other bar, and I ended the night with the impression that I would never again feel the need for an Auckland night out.
Day 6 Mt. Eden & the Silo Cinema
For landscape views of the city, Mt. Eden is your best bet. We took a bus on the way there but then walked back which took over an hour. I recommend the bus. The mountain is grassy and pretty with a few different lookout points.
In the evening, we headed to the Silo Cinema next to the water. This was actually really cool! It's an outdoor cinema where they project a movie onto the silo every Friday. It's totally free and even BYO, so we brought a six pack of beer. The only downside was that it was packed, so it took some time to find a spot, but we ended up on the grass somewhere near the front. We were even lucky enough to be there for a showing of Nightmare Before Christmas!
Day 7 Skytower & Sky Jump
I like to jump off of things. If there's a way to turn something mundane like a 50+ floor tower into a potentially dangerous activity, I am all for it. I had learned a few days beforehand that a SkyJump costs about $200. I had done some rough calculating as to what I would need over the next few weeks on my way through the North Island, and $200 for a base jump was not included in those figures.
After careful thought and consideration, I made the practical decision of "fuck my budget" and signed up for it anyway. They put me in a blue and yellow jump suit, camo sneakers, and a harness, then they sent me to the top of the building. I really enjoyed this because I was walking around by myself looking like a stunt woman.
The SkyJump is a 630 foot base jump from the 53rd floor of the tower. I stood in a windowed waiting room next to the jump area watching the world's most nervous middle-aged British man go before me. Once he was gone, they brought me out to check my equipment and attach a hand cam to my wrist. A guy walked me to the edge and attached all the necessary ropes.
I honestly hadn't been nervous, but the drop looked a lot crazier from up here! Far, far below me I could see the bullseye where I was meant to land. The jump guides gave me a three count while I held the ropes on either side, and then I let go and stepped off the edge.
It was a cool drop but not totally insane (definitely not like a bungee or skydive!). It took 11 seconds to reach the bottom, so it was fun but enough time to look around and watch the buildings rise up around you.
When I landed, the guy at the bottom unclipped me and asked if I enjoyed it. I said yes, it was really good, and he asked if I wanted to go again. What?! I asked if he was serious, and he said sometimes if there's nobody waiting to jump they'll let someone go twice. Awesome!
I happily rode back up to the top, but this time I jumped backwards. That was even better because the guy at the top actually held me out over the edge before dropping me, and I spun around a bunch as I was falling.
Of course I bought the photos and video afterwards that I also couldn't afford, and later on we came back to go up to the viewing platform which was free with my jump. The viewing floor has 360 degree views of the city, although strangely I kept looking around expecting to see the Skytower since it's the most prominent feature on the skyline. Since we were in the tower, everything else just looked a little generic. We stayed to watch the sunset, then hit the rooftop hot tub back at Nomads to end the night.
We did stay one more day in Auckland, but we spent it on a day trip to the Shire which absolutely deserves its own little entry. I'm sorry that my intro to New Zealand was one of my less exciting installments, but I promise the rest of the country fully makes up for it!