Auckland is a big city. However, the center is so sterile that it gives a feeling it is a decoration rather than a real city. "Be a tidy Kiwi" says the sticker, and the Aucklanders take this motto seriously. Auckland is not a boring city, though. There are few streets with pubs right in the center, and in NZ, like in NZ, you can also choose to jump from the Sky Tower, tied to nothing but a rope around your waist. In a country mostly inhabited by people that haven't ever visited a third floor, Auckland can even be considered as refreshing.
For us, however, coming from Melbourne and Sydney, it wasn't that appealing, not to mention the fact that we were sick. We spent the better part of our first 3 days in New Zealand around the hostel and the streets close by, and especially in one internet cafe we found. We stayed at the overly noisy Nomads hostel, and spent some time trying to plan ahead.
One funny anecdote introduced us to spirit of the kiwis (the name the Zealanders call themselves), and their lack of willingness to quarrel with anyone outside of the Rugby court. When we went to change money, we found a place where the rate seemed OK and the sign said "no commission" and changed our last Australian dollars. Only when we left we understood that we got much less than what we expected. We looked in the receipt and discovered that they took a huge 9% commission. We came back to the place, angry and ready to fight as if we were in Bolivia, and even got more furious when the clerk told us she cannot cancel the deal. "But I can give you the difference", she said. It was quite funny, as if what they actually told us was "If you don't want to pay the commission, no worries. We will just give it back to you".
We walked back and forth through the main streets of Auckland, but mostly spent our time in an internet café, writing post for our dedicated readers. We also met Asaf and Bareket, the Israeli couple we met in Melbourne, and had the honor to eat a hamburger with them. A hamburger? One might not look at a hamburger as such an important matter, but you should know that the White Lady hamburger bar, which is located in an old bus, is, at least according to the web page printout that they hang on the side of the bus, one of Auckland 187 best things to do. What are the other 186 items on the list? Well, we can think of 5 or 6 other stuff… The bus, by the way, can actually move – you won't find it parking in the same place in the morning, if hamburger is your favorite breakfast.
While wandering around the park, we heard loud music. When we got closer we found out that it came from the Auckland University. It was a student's day celebrating the end of the semester. We considered entering the show but the price was really too high for a completely unknown band. It is possible, that we've missed the next U2 just before they get world famous, though.
When we felt better we decided to do what we do best: go and see some nature. An hour and a half sail from Auckland there is a small island, Tiritiri Matangi, which is an open sanctuary - the introduced predators that were brought by the European settlers were kicked out (a clean phrase for "hunted to extinction") from the island, and the introduced grass was replaced with natural forest. After 20 years of re-vegetation, native and endangered birds were released to the island, which is now also open to the public.
We did a 3 hours hike, walking around the island and getting up close and personal with the different birds. We saw heaps of Tuis sticking their long beak into the flowers and singing with their exceptional musical voice. We also saw some of the more rare birds of New Zealand that have found a refuge in the island.
We got at the end to inevitable lighthouse with the inevitable gift shop and bought ourselves a new member to our small family – a kiwi doll who got the name Yechidna.
On the next day we left Auckland in the morning, and started our journey through the real New Zealand.
Tip 1: Find the Pink Lady, and eat some hamburger for dinner. It is money well spent.
Tip 2: Tiritiri Matangi is a heaven for bird lovers, but if you don't care about birds, unless they are served as dinner, you can skip the visit.
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