One thing you soon notice about Auckland is it’s hills! Most of them it would seem due to volcanic activity at some point. Two the the most obvious results of this are the volcanoes of Mount Eden located inland behind the CBD and Rangitoto Island.
Mount Eden is easily reached with a short walk from the city and gives some fantastic view of the surrounding area, and it’s crater. Sadly you can no longer go into the crater, but it’s stil breath taking.
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Rangitoto Island is a whole other experience. Starting with getting up first thing in the morning to be at the wharf to catch the Ferry and then having either a hours walk upto the summit, or as I chose the 5-6 hours walk around the Island where you get to see the many bays scattered around before making the climb to the summit for some spectacular views across the harbour and Auckland itself.
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When coming back down theres the option for a small detour to see some lava tunnels. The days hard work on the legs walking over the lava, which wasn’t what I was expecting. I’d imagined it’d be hard, smooth and all in one piece. How wrong was I! It’s all broken up. Imagine walking on a pebbled beach for several hours! All worth it though!
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After Rangitoto A couple of rest days gave time to explore the city and its many suburbs before heading out for another days walking on Waiheke Island. What started out as cold misty morning across the whole city soon turned into a fantastic summers day, so after a couple of walks I ended up at Palm Beach and gave up on the walking idea and speant the rest of the day lazing on the beach.
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I Think i’m going to spend a few days on Waiheke at the end of October before I fly to Sydney, but before then it’s time to leave the city and see a bit of the North Island. So tomorrow I head for the town of Thames on the coromandel peninsula for a bit of hiking and sight seeing. After that it’ll be around the peninsula itself before heading into the Bay of Plenty and the towns of Rotarua and Taupo aswell as White Island. An offshore active volcano.
So after 25 hours of flying from London to Auckland I’ve finally arrived and started my trip! I Managed to get really lucky on both my flights, with a spare seat next to me on each leg which made for a much more relaxing time. I’m not sure how or why but on landing in Auckland, the seat which had been empty for the previous 9 hours had a random lady sitting in it. Where had she been up until then?!? Was it even her seat or was she just a bit… lost and confused?
Anyway, that was yesterday and after checking into my hostel and exploring the city for a bit I gave up the fight against jet lag and went to bed. Which meant that today was an early start, and a chance to head to the North Shore of Auckland and the suburb of Devenport. From there you can check out some of the skyline views aswell as the view over the harbour and some of the islands. After walking round the North Head part of the harbour, and climbing Mount Victoria (more a hill) iit was back to Devenport itself for some Fish and Chips!
It’s 2pm now and i’m thinking it must be time for bed soon, which I guess will mean another early start tomorrow. No bad thing as I think I’m heading to Rangitoto Island.
Photos soon, there’s no usb socket on this pc…
So once again I’m unemployed, which can only mean one thing. Less than 48 hours before the trip to New Zealand begins.
Bags are all packed, unfortunately the luggage restrictions remain in the UK which is causing a few problems. Annoyingly they’re supposed to be lifted by this time next week! Argh!! I really need to take something out my main pack – its a little on the heavy side which is not a good thing for the start of a trip…
Tonight, is an early christmas dinner. For the real one I should be in the beach, so its nice to have the proper turkey dinner now!
So, time for a surreal few days spent travelling and getting back into the backpacking lifestyle. Exciting times! 
Now what have I forgotten….
Two Weeks today will see my final night in the UK for a couple of years as the following day is Monday 18th September.
On that day i’ll be heading down to Heathrow, and catching my flight to Auckland via Malaysia. Think I have most things sorted. Accomodation’s booked for ten days in Auckland, 14 days in Sydney for when I first arrive there and a month over christmas. Flights between New Zealand and Sydney all done and my bags in the corner of my room mostly packed.
I’ve a few things left to post to my bank, maybe a bit of tax stuff to sort out and a bus to book to Heathrow but other than that I’m pretty much sorted. Best of all only ten more days at work!
Been lookin at a 6 day hiking tour North of Auckland with ‘New Zealand Hiking‘. Looks like that could be a fun way to start the trip.
But for now I can just sit back and enjoy sleeping in my own bed and hoping that the daft ’size of’ carry on luggage restrictions at UK airports are lifted.
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