Auckland at last!
New Zealand takes soil contamination very seriously – and rightly so. Their iconic Kauri (pronounced Kody) trees are threatened from a soil fungus that was brought in years ago on the tracks of some earthmoving equipment. The inspection officer was nice about it and a quick rinse and I was on my way …
Greeted at the airport
I’ve never been “greeted” upon arrival like this. Edward was waiting for me as I emerged from customs! Nice way to start a trip – no rush hour scrambling to figure out where I’m going and how to get there!
Auckland skyline at night
After getting settled in I went for a quick bite to eat and a walk around the neighborhood. This is just a cellphone picture that I grabbed, thinking I would be back the next night with the "real" camera ... but the weather didn't cooperate ...
A quiet freeway?
The next morning I was up at 5am (8am West Coast time) and after a lovely breakfast and some work on the computer, set out to explore a bit of Auckland. Aside from the challenge of remembering to look right first then left when crossing the street, the first thing I really noticed was road noise, or more accurately, the lack of road noise! Highway 1 runs right through Auckland and it is amazingly quiet! I’m sure I was drawing stares as tried to process the trucks and cars passing by at a ¼ of the volume I expected. I didn’t find out how they do it, but apparently, it’s a combination of special asphalt, tires and noise restrictions on their vehicles. What would have been deafening in the states was nothing … you could easily hold a conversation without raising your voice. Seattle could learn a lot from this!
Quiet on the set!
After pondering the freeway for far too long, my next stop was supposed to be the Sky Tower – I like to visit the highest spot in a new town to get a sense of the layout and the major sites (learned this from David Jullian, a Seattle photographer and Photoshop guru). Unfortunately, the observation deck was enveloped in clouds, so that would have to be saved for another day. On to Vodaphone NZ for a local SIM card.
After getting setup with a local phone# and such, I was off again to discover the city. Determined to reach the shoreline, I headed more or less southwest … through the Parnell neighborhood and finally reaching the port. Along the way, I came across what I can only guess is a TV or low budget sci-fi filming. Wasn’t able to discover much before being chased off …
My first NZ friend ...
After finally reaching the waterfront, my phone battery died. I’ll admit, I hadn’t planned for that. I had been more/less consulting my Google maps to navigate my way to the shore and didn’t have a paper backup … The good news is that the SkyTower is pretty much visible from anywhere in Auckland and from there I could find my way back to my accommodations.
I made my first NZ friend upon getting back to my room. Meet George.
Grouch on the ouside, sweetey inside
New Zealands "Seattle"
Weather my second day was much better. Would you believe I counted 13 construction cranes in this shot of the Sky Tower and surrounding area!
No Junk Mail?
Started my walk heading north to make a big clock-wise loop around the city. Throughout my walk, I kept noticing that there seemed to be a recurrance of notes/instructions on the mailboxes regarding junk mail ... do these actually work? Does the postal worker actually sort out the junk? I never found a postal worker to ask ...
Kiwi Graffiti
They have a wonderful walkway around the the north edge of the city and Auckland seems to be a very dog friendly city -- I was greeted by numerous smiling pups out for a walk with their humans. Along the way, I came across my first NZ graffiti.
Gigantic boat shed
Walking through the marine / boat yards, I was floored by the size of this "boat shed" ...
The proverbial selfie from the waterfront with the SkyTower in the background
Passenger ferries head all over the place from downtown Auckland (didn't spot any car ferries)
Auckland's Sky Tower
Auckland's version of the Space Needle provided a great view from which to get a sense of the city and its layout.
A shot through the glass panel in the elevator floor ...
View towards my accommodations in the Ponsonby neighborhood of Auckland
Looking from the observation deck towards the waterfront I walked earlier ...
Truly inspring tree ...
Along my walk from the Auckland War Museum to Mt Eden, I came across this amazing tree... What determination!
Auckland from Mt Eden
Proof that I did indeed go up Mt Eden on my trek around Auckland
Lots of scaffolding ...
They use scaffolding for every residential project it appears ... unbelievable amount of scaffolding on every home project I walked past.
A lot of walking
Over the course of two days, I think I managed to walk between 20-24 miles! A lot of hills but it's the way I love to discover a city ...
