We boarded our Air New Zealand overnight flight and were exited to find out our plan of choosing and aisle and window seat landed us an empty seat between us! Sweet! We found the Economy class seats quite comfortable and the infotainment system to have some interesting options (wine delivery…well, okay if you suggest!) After a movie, wine and dinner, we managed to get about 6-7 hrs of broken sleep, with earplugs, eye mask, blanket, compression socks and comfy clothes to maximize comfort and sleep efficiency. Around 5am, the crew began to turn up the lights and distribute breakfast. A mimosa seemed in order, ’cause vacation…right? I began to see some distant lights in the water below, and as we descended I spotted cars driving on “other side” of road…Jody said “yup, we are in the right place!”
The Auckland Airport was fairly busy, owning to the Coronavirus, and they were announcing the e-gates were only available to travellers from the US or NZ residents and all others would be screened by customs manually. After about 1 hour in line, we proceeded to the security line and were questioned about what we had declared on our customs forms: hiking boots/poles, Rx bars, the wooden frame in Jody’s pack. My boots and poles were inspected and tagged and then our bags were x-rayed. NZ takes biosecurity seriously as a way to prevent contamination of their environment.
Jody bought a SIM card for his phone and we purchased tickets for round trip in the SKY Bus to the Central Business District (CBD) of Auckland. We made our way to the Jucy Snooze hostel; while only about a 2km walk about the last third of it involved me pushing my 50 lbs suitcase up a long hill while carrying my backpack! Maybe sled pushes should be uphill at the gym to train for this? Sheesh! The Jucy Snooze is an “economical” accommodation but totally decent – our own room and bathroom, and clean. We were unable to check in right away, but freshened up and dropped off our bags.
We headed out to explore the city and made our way to the Viaduct, which is the waterfront marina to million dollar yachts and condos. This harbour is the location of the Americas Cup, hydrofoil racing. We had a yummy breakfast and coffee at the Giraffe Cafe, which truly hit the spot!
We did some shopping along Queen Street and then walked to the Auckland Museum and spent several hours walking through the the exhibits about Maori culture, NZ at war, photography exhibit and natural history of NZ.
A drizzly walk back took us past the Civic Centre, where the Book of Mormon just started its run, but unfortunately there were no tickets available. There is a lottery for some $30 seats each night which we might try our luck at! A trip to the grocery store for provisions was in order, before heading back to get our room and shower, and indulge in happy hour (although not sure my body was on happy hour)!
Some research in the room took us to the Queens Ferry restaurant on quaint Vulcan Lane, where a burger (J) and salad (T) fulfilled supper requirements. With not much energy left int eh tank, we did the best we could to acclimate to the new time zone. Back to the room and I was asleep and snoring (allegedly) by 745pm!
Initial impressions of Auckland:
– big city, but not too overwhelming
– clean but heaps of construction happening, in preparation for summer 2021
– intersections are owned by pedestrians during the walk signal and you can walk diagonally, it seems to work…hint, hint Halifax!
– as Michelle told us, eggs were on the shelf in the store and not refrigerated
