Arriving to Auckland was arriving into a new world. A more similar one to my “home” and a more expensive one, right from the start. Catching the SuperShuttle Bus instead of the train to my first Couchsurfing place was a good option due to my delay.
I was lucky to find a friendly and helpful host right in the city centre. It is every time again interesting to me to see how other people are living their life. Each place has to tell it´s story and reflects in a way who we are, as far as I am concerned. We had a nice chat and off I went to bed.
The next day I went to explore the city. Not having a clue at all… I walked down to the harbour. There was a ferry to Waiheke just about to leave. So I decided to go for it. A lovely crossing, although very windy. I felt like a tourist right away. Getting off shore… there was the next question. What to do and where to go next?
Like walking is always the answer to me, I was looking for a trail. Immediately I found a sign for a nice loop. The tide was not really in my favour but it still seemed possible to pass the first section. Two girls just made it, what motivated me to do so too. And there I went. Up to my knees into the water, barefoot. Hard rocks and steady walking it was! I made it and so another girl… she turned out to be from Australia. As we were walking more or less in the same speed we ended up talking and completing the hike together. It was lovely to experience this “travelling-feeling” of meeting new people again. We even changed phonenumbers to meet up the next day again.
My evening was spent with my Couchsurfing host who was having some beers with friends in an Irish Pub. We had dinner and walked home. I was surprised by the amount of homeless people along the streets. According to my host the city starts to remove them to shelters as Cruise Season is starting soon and they want the city to have a better image. It´s sad how “appearance” has become more and more important whereas “humanity” should be the key.
The next morning I went with my host to the local market. A beautiful place with a lot of food stalls. Hard to make a choice what to have for breakfast! I had some chai and relaxed in one of the huge cushions in the grass. What a beautiful day again… although cooler then the day before. Making plans for the day I texted my Australian friend. We agreed on meeting up in front of the Art Gallery.
She went to see the paid POP-Art exhibition, whereas I went through the free standard gallery. Absolutely worth it. Afterwards we went across Albert Park to the War Memorial. It was packed with people and we were wondering what the crowd was all about. By asking a friendly Maori woman I soon found out, that the famous fighter Dan Hooker had organised this gathering. Only father´s were allowed to participate. Today was only signing-up day. 32 men would be selected for a fight on a later date, when they would fight for 3 minutes. The winner of this 3-Minute fight would get prize-money of 50.000 NZD. It was interesting to see how men were divided into 3 groups. They had to run, shadow fight and do other little tests. Hard to imagine who would be selected finally! After a while we continued and headed further to Mt. Eden. While following the path up we talked about almost everything. A very pleasant afternoon, surrounded by great views over Auckland.
Late afternoon we walked satisfied and a bit tired back to the city. We had an early dinner or late lunch together before we went different ways. Once back at my Couchsurfing place I was getting ready to pack as heading north the next day. Booked the InterCitybus… so ready for a new area to explore!
