In and Around Kiwitown

The rest of the weekend flew by exploring what Auckland had to offer.  We made the best use of our bike rental by riding (okay, walking uphill most of the way) through Auckland domain.  This was essentially Toronto's High Park meets London's Hampstead Heath.  It had established paved trails and a duckpond, a greenhouse and museum at the centre (top), though otherwise it was kindof a big forest.  Very neat nonetheless.

We also went to an alehouse in the city that is ranked top in New Zealand (and a must see for beer lovers in our guidebook).    It was called Galbraith's alehouse and they are a craft brewery that makes about 8 different types of beer based on English Ales and German/Czech Lager recipes.  We elected to do a tasting menu of 4 different types.  I really liked the Bohemian Pilsner as it kind of had an apricot taste.  The wheat beer was also very interesting and memorable as it smelled like bananas (and thus tasted a bit like bananas too!).  Unfortunately we had to get the bikes back or we would have explored more ales!

Saturday afternoon I really wanted to check out Ponsonby - which is an artsy suburb of Auckland that we grabbed a bus to.  It felt like the wild west the way the buildings were designed, like those below.

The shops and cafes and bars all lined one street called Ponsonby road, and it had quite the kitchy feel to it - lots of very unique shops, and even some risque diners like this one - murder burger.  The marketing of this place was very humourous, basically taking the piss out of eating meat.  It made us think that it was meant to be a vegetarian burger joint, but oh no! Quite the contrary.  Very interesting and humorous in any case.

 

On Sunday we got up and did the quintessential backpacker tasks -  made brekkie & tea and did a load of laundry.  Our bungy-like travel clothesline was genius and came quite in handy in our hostel room.  We then packed a lunch & our snorkels into a bag and headed to the pier to grab a ferry over to a neighbouring island for the day called Waiheke island. It is an island of Auckland where 8000 people live and 1000 commute to work every day, and also where mainland Aucklander's holiday. 

The island had a number of beautiful beaches and wineries and it was easy to lose ourselves there for the entire day. 

Thankfully Syd had his M license so we were able to rent a motorbike (250 cc) and bomb around the island.  As it was my first time on a real motorbike I was quite nervous, but equally excited.  It was such good fun!  I didn't know the protocol about getting off to the left of the bike, and naturally got off on the right (I am SOOO right brained).  Well I paid for that mistake as my shin was singed against the hot hot muffler!  ouch! that stung!  It ended up forming a perfectly oval burn mark on my leg, that at the moment looks like a massive birth mark. Great. Right before my diving trip and a wetsuit in 2 days!  doh!

That blunder aside, we really did enjoy all the lookout points on the island, hanging out in the sand on Oretangi beach, tasting wines at Obsidian winery, and snorkelling in a serene bay called enclosure bay.   I found it strange for the size of the bay that we saw no fish! Nice to have some clear waters though, given that every other beach had choppy waters.

In classic Millett style we rushed the bike back to return it just before the ferry departed for Auckland.  We enjoyed a good dinner with live music in an Irish pub that evening at the pier (called the Viaduct) before calling it a night to prepare for the next stage of our adventure - the campervan!

Observations: 

Our hostel was located on a dodgy street.  We would sit out on the patio section and just watch homeless people pick through the rubbish bin right near us, or try and bum smokes.  Then, we'd turn and see bunches of guys in search of nudie bars - but they didn't have to look far as there was one right beside our hostel, and 2 just around the corner! 

All of the sidewalks in the CBD (Central business district) of Auckland are covered by permanent awnings.  I found this quite weird and somewhat claustrophobic inducing in the first day or so.  But I then appreciated it on Sunday when we got off the ferry and it was raining, but I didn't get wet on the entire 5 minute walk home as I was completely sheltered!  Genius!

Why are all Irish pubs the liveliest places in any country we visit? They always tend to have decent food, good beers on tap, live music, and crowds of people, regardless of location.  I don't know what they do, but the Irish have this all figured out.

Astrid.