New Zealand - Auckland to Whangateau
The long,
long journey across the globe..
In transit - December 12th 2008
The flights were long and rough as expected. We had a 3hr layover in Fiji before landing in Auckland and here’s Chris taking an opportunity to nap before boarding the flight onward to Auckland New Zealand.
Downtown Auckland
Days 1 & 2 - December 12th & 13th 2008
In the rush of getting our lives situated to leave the states we didn’t get to pre-book our hotel in Auckland. One great thing about New Zealand is their “I-Site” stations they have set up in almost every town, including the Auckland airport. The I-Site stations are set up specifically for tourists looking to find accommodation; someone basically calls around looking for hotels & camping for you, which was extremely convenient considering we had just flown for 20 hrs and had no brain power left to figure out where to catch some much needed sleep. We ended up at the “City Central” hotel in the heart of downtown Auckland. The hotel was not bad, comparable to a large Holiday Inn and we got a discounted rate going through the I-Site station.
Downtown Auckland and the famous Sky Tower! There was even sky jumping off of the Sky Tower, you know, just in case you didn’t want to wait to get to the nearest bungie-jumping facility in New Zealand after getting off the plane, LOL!
In downtown Auckland during the holidays, they put this giant, freakish Santa Claus on Queen St with a robotic finger, no lie, that entices holiday shoppers to go into the Whitcoulls department store. Funny coincidence, that same day we stood on the street noticing how strange the wiggling finger looked, at our hotel that night there was actually a news story on whether or not the Santa Claus is too freaky to be on display! Apparently it’s an Auckland holiday tradition, the locals think yes it’s strange but they love it all the same! ^*^
One thing about Auckland, and the North Island in general, the weather changes so rapidly. One minute it’s blue skys, warm and sunny, and literally the next minute it’s dark, windy and raining! I read about this but experiencing it is another thing. We were pretty darn spoiled in Southern California! The food so far has been great; lots of fresh organics and even the tap water tasted great; which was a nice change from the states. Sorry but our water back home sucks!
While we were in the hotel, we reserved an awesome RV with KEA, including stove top, fridge, shower & toilet (ultimate luxury!!) to begin our journey with! As avid backpackers who enjoy roughing it, this is a mobile 5-star honeymoon suite!!
Auckland to Whangateau
Day 3 - December 14th 2008
We drove north from Auckland with the very loose itinerary of getting to the Bay of Islands, which is as far north as we wanted to go. It was VERY nerve wracking the first day renting the RV and learning how to drive on the OTHER side of the road! In New Zealand, you always must “give way” (meaning yield) to the vehicle on the right, but we drive on the left so, yeah.. it was a scary day getting used to how people drive out here but Chris took it like a champion and did a great job while my finger nails sunk into the dashboard like a cat clutched for its dear life!
First RV campsite in Whangateau!
...shared with Oystercatchers!
... and pretty red footed Gulls!
... Unfortunately I’m running short of time so I will post more later about the Glow Worm Cave (oooh) the endangered Fairy Terns (aaahhh) and the GORGEOUS Bay of Islands (weeee!!)
Thanks for reading!!
Jenn
In transit - December 12th 2008
The flights were long and rough as expected. We had a 3hr layover in Fiji before landing in Auckland and here’s Chris taking an opportunity to nap before boarding the flight onward to Auckland New Zealand.
Downtown Auckland
Days 1 & 2 - December 12th & 13th 2008
In the rush of getting our lives situated to leave the states we didn’t get to pre-book our hotel in Auckland. One great thing about New Zealand is their “I-Site” stations they have set up in almost every town, including the Auckland airport. The I-Site stations are set up specifically for tourists looking to find accommodation; someone basically calls around looking for hotels & camping for you, which was extremely convenient considering we had just flown for 20 hrs and had no brain power left to figure out where to catch some much needed sleep. We ended up at the “City Central” hotel in the heart of downtown Auckland. The hotel was not bad, comparable to a large Holiday Inn and we got a discounted rate going through the I-Site station.
Downtown Auckland and the famous Sky Tower! There was even sky jumping off of the Sky Tower, you know, just in case you didn’t want to wait to get to the nearest bungie-jumping facility in New Zealand after getting off the plane, LOL!
In downtown Auckland during the holidays, they put this giant, freakish Santa Claus on Queen St with a robotic finger, no lie, that entices holiday shoppers to go into the Whitcoulls department store. Funny coincidence, that same day we stood on the street noticing how strange the wiggling finger looked, at our hotel that night there was actually a news story on whether or not the Santa Claus is too freaky to be on display! Apparently it’s an Auckland holiday tradition, the locals think yes it’s strange but they love it all the same! ^*^
One thing about Auckland, and the North Island in general, the weather changes so rapidly. One minute it’s blue skys, warm and sunny, and literally the next minute it’s dark, windy and raining! I read about this but experiencing it is another thing. We were pretty darn spoiled in Southern California! The food so far has been great; lots of fresh organics and even the tap water tasted great; which was a nice change from the states. Sorry but our water back home sucks!
While we were in the hotel, we reserved an awesome RV with KEA, including stove top, fridge, shower & toilet (ultimate luxury!!) to begin our journey with! As avid backpackers who enjoy roughing it, this is a mobile 5-star honeymoon suite!!
Auckland to Whangateau
Day 3 - December 14th 2008
We drove north from Auckland with the very loose itinerary of getting to the Bay of Islands, which is as far north as we wanted to go. It was VERY nerve wracking the first day renting the RV and learning how to drive on the OTHER side of the road! In New Zealand, you always must “give way” (meaning yield) to the vehicle on the right, but we drive on the left so, yeah.. it was a scary day getting used to how people drive out here but Chris took it like a champion and did a great job while my finger nails sunk into the dashboard like a cat clutched for its dear life!
First RV campsite in Whangateau!
...shared with Oystercatchers!
... and pretty red footed Gulls!
... Unfortunately I’m running short of time so I will post more later about the Glow Worm Cave (oooh) the endangered Fairy Terns (aaahhh) and the GORGEOUS Bay of Islands (weeee!!)
Thanks for reading!!
Jenn