the City of Sails

Cast your minds back about 6 months ago.. Do you remember where you were? Well, I was back in the South Island in a place called Nelson. I visited the geographic centre of NZ there. I met a guy by the name of Jade on top of that hill. He was from Auckland. Somehow I recalled this fact on my way down from Awanui so I decided to give him a shout. And what do ya know.. I've been crashing at his flat for the past week and a half. How convenient - 15 minutes walk to the city centre, and with free off-street parking right next door too (it's very difficult to find non-metered parking spaces in this city), you can't go wrong! Awesome!
Friday night, the night I arrived, Jade took me to a going-home party for Theresa, a Swedish girl he knows, at a funky little club in town. Fun, fun... The next day, a lovely clear and sunny day, myself and a few of the guys from the flat Paul, Ricky and Renée played some frisby in a nearby park - ahh, the childhood years - before wandering the streets of AKL.
Sunday came, and what do all good people do on a Sunday? They go to church! That's exactly what Jade, Theresa, Melissa - one of Jade's mates - and I got upto. We all know I'm not a religious person in the slightest, but it was in fact quite an interesting service, and the sense of community in this particular church is really strong and great to see. Northgate Baptist Church, you've got my vote. Following this, I thought I'd go for a bit of a stroll... On four legs! We went back to Jade's parents' house for some lunch, a visit with some alpacas and then, sat avowedly a little uneasily atop one of their fine horses, a trot (and canter) around their rather large property surrounded by forested area. I've never ridden a horse before and I did enjoy myself, although when the other horses started to canter and mine followed suit on its own accord the self-assurance was not exactly flowing. Theresa even managed to get a jump in on her horse which was cool. We finished the night off in an Italian restaurant for a lovely plate of, you guessed it, pasta - the backpackers' choice, and my meal for almost every night of the past 8 months! Mmmmm.. Oh how I look forward to real meals when I finish up here!
Visiting art galleries, public gardens and just generally strolling around the city was what I got upto on a rather lazy Monday. Then Tuesday was a day for visiting some of the eastern shore beaches and then a place called Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Encounter and Underwater World. With a real colony of sub-Antarctic penguins, stingray tank (which you could get into if you so wished!) and a moving walkway through a clear tube surrounded by an aquarium teeming with sharks and other creatures of the like, this was quite a neat up-close subaquatic experience. In the afternoon I met up with the French girls, Fan and Bene, for a yarn then another catch-up, this time with Nic. Man it's been a while... Was lovely having a coffee and a chat again, glad to see everything's going well up this way for her! Then back with the French girls for a drink at a very chic bar on Viaduct harbour a little later that night.
Zak, an American dude I met in Welly, came upto AKL on Wednesday so we caught up and went for a walk in the Winderholme NP about 30 minutes north of the city. I then went on that day to visit the stretching part of coastline known as Muriwai beach on the west coast, for a walk over the wave-pounded rock formations to the gannet colony situated there. In the nighttime I met up with Jeff, Judy and Lauren, who I met all those months ago on the Milford Track, for a drink.. A huge week of reminiscing!
Thursday was the day for checking out the acclaimed Auckland Zoo for some more wildlife spotting. The most impressive part of my visit was definitely the African animals' enclosure, Pridelands, and the nocturnal house in which I saw my first kiwi.. Yes that's right, in this entire time in NZ and in all the nature reserves that I've visited, the only kiwi I've seen has been in Auckland Zoo! Later on I ventured to the summit of Mt. Eden, one of some 48 extinct volcanoes that punctuate the Auckland region. Even later still I went with Ric to a beginners swing-dancing class.. Great fun, love the music! Then along with Renée, we checked out the brilliant voice of local musician Lauren Thomson at a pub on the harbourside.
And now for a brief detour, to the islands.......


Photos:
1. Across the harbour from Auckland city
2. The view from the flat balcony
3. Hang on... I thought those guys split up?
4. Feeding the alpacas with Theresa
5. Looking very calm, very collected...
6. Me, Tess, Mel and Jade
7. Feeding the stingrays at Kelly Tarlton's
8. A whole colony!
9. The French gals
10. Read the fine print... A masterpiece! - Winderholme NP
11. Found these odd creatures on the balcony.. Ewww.. You should see them move!
12. A taste of home at the zoo
13. The kiwi! (the little fluffy thing in the middle)
14. Ric and Renée @ the gig