Auckland
On Saturday I decided to walk around the city to get my barings and explore a bit. I was quite impressed with the city - first I headed down to the harbour and Princes Wharf there was lots of boats out on the water and some very expensive looking yachts. I then walked over to a place called Ponsonby which is a trendy area of bars and cafes (I just like the sound of the name). From Ponsonby I headed back to the city centre (or CBD as it's known). I moved on to the Sky Tower which dominates the Auckland Skyline and had a look around the casino. It was strange for me to be back in a big city where everyone was speaking English although sometimes you think your somewhere in Asia with all of the Thai, Japanese and Chinese people and restaurants.
That night I headed out to check out the Auckland nightlife with some of my room mates. We had a few drinks in the hostal bar and Sports bar next door before heading down to the harbour and Princes Wharf. We thought the harbour would be very expensive, but it wasn't too bad. We went to a bar called Lenins which is right next to a bar called Minus 5 where everything is made of ice - even your seat and glass - you also have to wear special warm clothing and can only stay in there for half an hour. We ended the night in an Irish bar called Danny Doolans which had a live band.
Next day we went up the Sky Tower - I though it was best to go up at around 4pm so that we got to see the city by day and night. The tower is 328m tall and used to be the biggest tower in the Southern Hemisphere before they built the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur. There are two viewing levels - we paid the extra three dollars to go up to the "ultimate" viewing level. I remembered my Camera but had forgotten I'd taken the memory card out to transfer photos - doh! Part of the floor is made of glass on the main viewing level and you get a great view down to the street below.
(Thanks to Kerry for the photo)
We also saw someone fly past the window - it wasn't a suicide jumper, just someone doing the Sky Jump a 192m descent by wire! We had a few drinks in the sky lounge and waited for it to get dark - as it did they dimmed the lights and we got a great view of the city by night.
On Monday I did a free city tour with the Kiwi Experience company. I was interested to see what they were like as they were one of my choices to use to travel around. They picked me up from the hostal and we headed out of the CBD over the harbour bridge. It was a nice sunny day although a bit chilly and we stopped at two beaches with views out towards Rangitoto and Motutapu islands.
We then headed for Devonport where we visited North Head a historic reserve with fortifications and old tunnels built at the end of the 19th Century in response to fears of a Russian invasion!! The tunnels were also enlarged and used during WWI and WWII and some of the old guns are still there. We stopped for lunch in Devonport and visited a chocolate factory before heading over to the last stop Mt Victoria where we could get some great views of the Auckland Skyline.
On Tuesday I felt like a bit of culture so checked out some Art Galleries - there were Old and New galleries. I quite liked this picture in the old gallery called the Phantom Canoe. The New gallery was a bit like the Tate Modern or Baltic gallery. One of the exhibts was called the drunken chimp and was basically a chimp dressed in a suit lying face down on the floor holding a TV screen showing last nights antics of how he got so drunk - quality (who pays for these things?).
Wednesday was Australian Visa day. The application process was much easier than I expected as they did it all over the counter and the building was just around the corner from the hostal. I needed a 6 month Visa to avoid having to leave Oz at Christmas time when I figured all the flights would be full or expensive - plus I quite like the idea of New Year in Sydney. I also found Warehouse a store that sells everything at discounted prices including books and clothes - figured I'd be back later in the week for some more warm clothes!
On Thursday I headed over to the Auckland Museum. This is a great place and would recommend a visit. To get there I walked through the Auckland Domain, a park that leads up hill past some duck ponds to the museum.
On the ground floor of the museum there were objects from all over the Pacific Islands (even a statue from Easter Island) and a huge display of Maori treasures including a spectacular meeting house, known as Hotonui, and the last great war canoe or waka carved from a single giant totara tree and launched in battle in 1836.
After looking around the first floor I'd bought my ticket for the Manaia Maori Cultural Performance. The performers met us in the lobby and sounded a conch shell before taking us through to the performance area. It was a good show but I wish I'd brought my Camera - it included a welcome dance, poi dance, stick game, weaponry display and a haka. The All Blacks do a haka before each match but it was scary watching the women doing it as well as they made their eyes buldge (nightmares).
When the performance ended I looked around the rest of the museum. The first floor was all about natural History - there was a big section on Volcanoes as Auckland was formed by volcanic erruptions and is built on an area of volcanic activity. There was a mock-up of a living room where you could sit and watch what would happen if there was a real eruption. The room had patio doors with a view of the bay and as the news reports came in on the TV the view changed and you saw the eruption and the water and smoke heading towards you from the bay as the floor shook and the lights went out!! There were a few live creatures on display including spiders, cockroaches and lobsters - there was even one bit where you go into a cave and see these nasty looking insects called cave weta.
The top floor was all about New Zealand at war. Two aircraft are on display - a restored Zero and Spitfire (would love to know how they got them up there!). The museum is really well thought out as you step through each war the New Zealanders have been involved in from 1840 to the present day. There is also rememberance areas (Sanctuary and Hall of Memories) for all the New Zealanders who died in the conflicts.
My favourite bit of the museum was Auckland 1866 - a replica of a street from 1866/67 with real businesses (including a hotel bar) which you can walk into and look around.
On Friday I visited the dentist and changed my plane tickets. Follow the link to my revised itinerary.
I used the weekend to get the blog up to date and chill out so not much to report.
Today (Monday 31st July) I booked my bus travel around New Zealand. I opted to use Magic Travel as they seemed to be best value, they are also supposed to be the most popular so it's most likely that I'll meet some new people.
I set off up to Paihia on the North Coast of the North Island on Wednesday.
That night I headed out to check out the Auckland nightlife with some of my room mates. We had a few drinks in the hostal bar and Sports bar next door before heading down to the harbour and Princes Wharf. We thought the harbour would be very expensive, but it wasn't too bad. We went to a bar called Lenins which is right next to a bar called Minus 5 where everything is made of ice - even your seat and glass - you also have to wear special warm clothing and can only stay in there for half an hour. We ended the night in an Irish bar called Danny Doolans which had a live band.
Next day we went up the Sky Tower - I though it was best to go up at around 4pm so that we got to see the city by day and night. The tower is 328m tall and used to be the biggest tower in the Southern Hemisphere before they built the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur. There are two viewing levels - we paid the extra three dollars to go up to the "ultimate" viewing level. I remembered my Camera but had forgotten I'd taken the memory card out to transfer photos - doh! Part of the floor is made of glass on the main viewing level and you get a great view down to the street below.
(Thanks to Kerry for the photo)
We also saw someone fly past the window - it wasn't a suicide jumper, just someone doing the Sky Jump a 192m descent by wire! We had a few drinks in the sky lounge and waited for it to get dark - as it did they dimmed the lights and we got a great view of the city by night.
On Monday I did a free city tour with the Kiwi Experience company. I was interested to see what they were like as they were one of my choices to use to travel around. They picked me up from the hostal and we headed out of the CBD over the harbour bridge. It was a nice sunny day although a bit chilly and we stopped at two beaches with views out towards Rangitoto and Motutapu islands.
We then headed for Devonport where we visited North Head a historic reserve with fortifications and old tunnels built at the end of the 19th Century in response to fears of a Russian invasion!! The tunnels were also enlarged and used during WWI and WWII and some of the old guns are still there. We stopped for lunch in Devonport and visited a chocolate factory before heading over to the last stop Mt Victoria where we could get some great views of the Auckland Skyline.
On Tuesday I felt like a bit of culture so checked out some Art Galleries - there were Old and New galleries. I quite liked this picture in the old gallery called the Phantom Canoe. The New gallery was a bit like the Tate Modern or Baltic gallery. One of the exhibts was called the drunken chimp and was basically a chimp dressed in a suit lying face down on the floor holding a TV screen showing last nights antics of how he got so drunk - quality (who pays for these things?).
Wednesday was Australian Visa day. The application process was much easier than I expected as they did it all over the counter and the building was just around the corner from the hostal. I needed a 6 month Visa to avoid having to leave Oz at Christmas time when I figured all the flights would be full or expensive - plus I quite like the idea of New Year in Sydney. I also found Warehouse a store that sells everything at discounted prices including books and clothes - figured I'd be back later in the week for some more warm clothes!
On Thursday I headed over to the Auckland Museum. This is a great place and would recommend a visit. To get there I walked through the Auckland Domain, a park that leads up hill past some duck ponds to the museum.
On the ground floor of the museum there were objects from all over the Pacific Islands (even a statue from Easter Island) and a huge display of Maori treasures including a spectacular meeting house, known as Hotonui, and the last great war canoe or waka carved from a single giant totara tree and launched in battle in 1836.
After looking around the first floor I'd bought my ticket for the Manaia Maori Cultural Performance. The performers met us in the lobby and sounded a conch shell before taking us through to the performance area. It was a good show but I wish I'd brought my Camera - it included a welcome dance, poi dance, stick game, weaponry display and a haka. The All Blacks do a haka before each match but it was scary watching the women doing it as well as they made their eyes buldge (nightmares).
When the performance ended I looked around the rest of the museum. The first floor was all about natural History - there was a big section on Volcanoes as Auckland was formed by volcanic erruptions and is built on an area of volcanic activity. There was a mock-up of a living room where you could sit and watch what would happen if there was a real eruption. The room had patio doors with a view of the bay and as the news reports came in on the TV the view changed and you saw the eruption and the water and smoke heading towards you from the bay as the floor shook and the lights went out!! There were a few live creatures on display including spiders, cockroaches and lobsters - there was even one bit where you go into a cave and see these nasty looking insects called cave weta.
The top floor was all about New Zealand at war. Two aircraft are on display - a restored Zero and Spitfire (would love to know how they got them up there!). The museum is really well thought out as you step through each war the New Zealanders have been involved in from 1840 to the present day. There is also rememberance areas (Sanctuary and Hall of Memories) for all the New Zealanders who died in the conflicts.
My favourite bit of the museum was Auckland 1866 - a replica of a street from 1866/67 with real businesses (including a hotel bar) which you can walk into and look around.
On Friday I visited the dentist and changed my plane tickets. Follow the link to my revised itinerary.
I used the weekend to get the blog up to date and chill out so not much to report.
Today (Monday 31st July) I booked my bus travel around New Zealand. I opted to use Magic Travel as they seemed to be best value, they are also supposed to be the most popular so it's most likely that I'll meet some new people.
I set off up to Paihia on the North Coast of the North Island on Wednesday.
posted by Phil at 6:13 AM
1 Comments:
seems like your on a world wide booze up with all the hangovers! be careful of the sheep in New Zealand!!
happy 30th by the way. good to hear the updates will be more regular now!
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