In the City of Sails

We're in Auckland!

We are happy to say that we are back in the land of pubs, immaculately clean streets and cuisine more varied than curry, chop suey and fish'n'chips. Most importantly, we're in the land of less suffocating climate. The cool breeze we felt leaving the airport parking lot was just...well, amazing.

(Note: Editing this entry a few days later, I have to correct the previous statement about the breeze. It's not cool. It's cold. The breeze is always cold, even when the sun is intensely hot. Why?? Needless to say, we've been dusting off our socks and long sleeved shirts.)

Arriving in Auckland was a huge cultural shock. After 2 months of living practically in the bush surrounded only by coconut trees, millions of ants and lethal heat, the cleanliness, culture and the refreshing air of this city was like something out of this world. On our first day we sat in a cafe drinking proper strong coffee and reading city guide brochures when we realized how culturally deprived we've been for the last few months. There are theaters, festivals, museums, cinemas, harbor cruises, the zoo, the observatory and millions of posh restaurants with cuisines from all over the world here. There's even an IMAX here! It all seemed almost overwhelming at first. But the European/US look and feel of the city is so familiar to us that for the first few days it was hard to remember that we are in fact on the other side of the globe, and not in London or San Francisco.

We are staying right in the heart of CBD (central business district) with our friend Matt and his girlfriend Alina. We've gone out a few times (had Italian food for the first time in months - ah, divine!), had beers in a few pubs and bars (and we didn't get immediate headaches like from the low-quality Fosters product, Fiji Bitter) and went to a beach and enjoyed waves crashing straight onto the beach, not a mile off-shore on a barrier reef. And we've felt cold at night - a feeling more special than I would have ever thought.

Of course, we've walked around the city quite a bit by now. Auckland is straddled by ocean on both sides and the two harbors are huge. We've only seen the one closer to us - Waitemata Harbour - which is a home to an untold number of megaposh yachts, racing sailboats and brand new catamaran ferries that take visitors to the many neighboring islands and marine villages. Actually, I don't know if the ferries are brand new - they just look brand new. Everything in this city looks brand new - polished, clean and - "flash", as they say here. And polished and clean is quite a change from the old and beat-up that we got used to in the tropical paradise. Oh, and there's the gorgeous chrome-and-steel skyline dominated by the Skytower, the tallest tower in the southern hemisphere, which you can climb or bungee jump from.

Unfortunately, all tourist activities in Auckland are exorbitantly expensive for the backpacker traveller. The Auckland Museum charges NZ$30 per head, which pretty much prohibits us from going, since NZ$60 could pay for our food for a week! The Maritime Museum and the Skytower are only a little better with NZ$18 and NZ$25 per visit. We could climb over the Harbour Bridge and take stunning photos of the city skyline, but there are better things we could do with NZ$130. So that leaves us with movies and walks around the city.

Yesterday, Matt and a friend of his took us out about 50km north of the city to go spearfishing and scallop diving. Unfortunately, the four of us ended up too heavy for our small boat, so Ryan and I had to stay on shore while the two went fishing. But at least we got our first glimpse of NZ countryside. With the wild mix of exotic pines, bamboo, massive fern trees, decorative palms, birches and other unfamiliar looking trees, the landscape here looks definitely unlike anything we've seen before. It looks like standard moderate-climate land - with a touch of exotic and semi-tropical flavour. And that's also what Auckland looks like - a European city with a tropical Asian flare.

We can't wait to see more of this interesting country, that's why we're shopping online for a car to drive around the islands for the next two months. We will leave the city as soon as we have a car and head down south towards the more backpacker-friendly areas of Nelson and Wellington. There, we will try to get fruit-picking jobs to pay for the rest of our trip and we'll hopefully do more camping and hiking and exploring of these two gorgeous islands.

Have a Happy Valentine's Day everybody!