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Day 1

Upon awakening some time around 10 AM, we got our first view of Auckland from our hotel room. It looked something like this:

While we did have some tentative plans while in Auckland, the plan was for the first couple of days to be relatively sedate (considering the length of our trip and unknown impact of moving back four time zones). So, on our first day we opted to simply head out and take a walk.

Coming from the Los Angeles area, the first thing we would notice is how clean the downtown area was. While every city center is going to have its shady side, I felt more comfortable walking the streets of Auckland than I would feel in many streets in my own country. It certainly didn’t hurt that aside from being a little overcast in the mornings it was warm and sunny the entire time we were there.

We (more or less intentionally) lost ourselves in the city, ultimately ending up at Viaduct Harbour. Here, it becomes very clear why Auckland is known as the “City of Sails” – more sailboats are owned (per capita) by Aucklanders than in any city in the world, and this is reflected in its numerous marinas and waterways.

After subsisting on airline food for most of the last day, we decided to see what sort of food our new temporary home had to offer. Viaduct Harbour held many options, but we decided to do what came naturally when visiting the island country of New Zealand: Dine on Indian food.

It’s not that we didn’t want to try quintisential Kiwi cuisine on our first day, it’s that – walking the streets of the city – there really wasn’t any. We’d have to head further south into the New Zealand heartland to really find that sort of thing. Until then, we would ’settle’ for some pakoras and chicken tikka masala.

Later in the day, we opted to go for another walk in a different random direction, ultimately finding ourselves in an Irish pub. Notice a trend, here? Auckland is a rather cosmopolitan place – full of people from all corners of the world – and this is reflected everywhere.

Suffice to say, Glenna and I each opted to have a pint.

Or two.

As luck would have it, we found that the pub was advertising a 7 PM pool tournament for that evening. Having painfully endured entire days without playing pool, Glenna decided to sign up. She didn’t win, unfortunately, though we did have a chance to socialize with some of the locals (including a pair of businessmen – one a Kiwi and another an Aussie – who couldn’t help but, in jest, recount to us the stereotypes associated with their friend’s respective country).

I’d long heard rumors of the famed Aussie/Kiwi rivalry, but figured it would take at least 24 hours before we’d see it first-hand. Nope!

Day 2

Our plan for the day was to visit the Auckland War Memorial Museum – an institution that features excellent exhibits about New Zealand, its Pakeha (European) and Maori settlers, its natural history and more.

While at the museum, we had a chance to see a cultural performance featuring traditional Maori haka as performed by members of the local Ngati Whatua O Orakei tribe. Also exhibited were traditional Maori music, instruments and weaponry (such as the mere and taiaha). The performers were very open to explaining aspects of their culture, and it was quite nice to have some context to go along with the museum’s collection of Maori artifacts.

True to its name, the museum also had a number of exhibits showcasing the various conflicts New Zealand has seen, from the earliest battles between Maori and Europeans to the country’s role in World War II and on. I found it to be a fascinating take on history that we usually don’t see in the United States (where most history is shown through our own eyes or those of the British).

What struck me most was the great price the small, then mostly-rural country paid during WWII – and am happy that they were there beside us.

Feet aching after a full day at the museum, we headed back to the downtown area (via Auckland’s surprisingly decent public transit system) and decided to walk around some more, taking in the sights. After running a quick errand to get towels for our next day’s plans, we soaked our feet in the tub and went to sleep. We had a long day ahead of us.

Day 3

We woke up early on our third day in Auckland. We then jump in the car for the first time since we arrived and head north on State Highway 1 – beyond Auckland proper – to the Whangaparaoa peninsula and the northern reaches of the Hauraki Gulf. We had rented a jet-ski and would spend the day hopping from island to island in the gulf.

First things first, though, we needed to grab some breakfast. In a rush for time, we stopped off at a convenience store and surveyed our options. In the end, I opted for something you just don’t see very often in the States: Meat pie.

Okay, so it doesn’t look all that great. And I believe that it’s something that the British cooked up at some point (perhaps as their sole example of flavorful food), so it’s not uniquely Kiwi, either. But – damn it – they’re actually quite good, and they’re available in just about any café-style restaurant and convenience store in the country. As a point of reference: They’re somewhat similar to a beef pot pie, though sturdy enough that they can be picked up and eaten without a utensil if you’re lacking in one.

Once we had breakfast – and picked up some healthier options for later, such as a banana and a pack of M&Ms – we met up with someone from Hauraki Adventures, whom we were renting the jet-ski from that morning. After a short safety talk and overview of the islands we would see, he turned us loose onto the semi-open sea with a map and instructions to make it back both before 4:30 PM and before running out of petrol.

Neither of us had ever ridden a jet-ski before, but it was pretty straight-forward. From the back, it looked something like this:

…though it felt a bit more like this:

With little more than a map and some guidance as to what islands were worth checking out, we headed across the gulf at a decent clip. Our first encounter was with Motuora Island. Judging the rocky southern coast to be too dangerous to tread upon at low tide, we headed around the back side and stopped off at nearby Motuketekete Island (“Food Basket Island”) .

Our luck being what it was, after dropping anchor and while in the process of coming ashore, the front strap of one of Glenna’s flip-flops broke.

No worries, right? Wrong.

While Big Manly Beach itself is pretty sandy, many of the islands in the gulf reflect the region’s volcanic past. Sharp, pointy and – at best – covered in somewhat smooth/round rocks that are still a literal pain to walk on barefoot. We gave up on Motuketekete Island and moved along to Moturekareka Island (“Pleasant Island”) to have some lunch and ponder our fate. What should have been a 30 second disembarking took 10 minutes as each of us took turns using our single pair of functional flip-flops and fumbled our way to shore. Snacking on M&Ms and nursing our anything-but-pleasant-feeling feet, we decided that our chances of enjoying the natural environment from anywhere but the back of our jet-ski would require heading back to the beach and finding some shoes.

The look of our guide from Hauraki Adventures as we came ashore was priceless (“Usually when this happens, it’s because it didn’t agree with the missus”). As Glenna ran back to our car to grab her shoes, I explained the situation. After that, with the tide finally having come in, we decided to give Motuora Island a proper look (this time from the north shore, which is – surprise surprise – nice and sandy).

Motuora Island is a bit more developed than most of the other islands, featuring a camping area, small cottage and hiking tracks. Unlike most of the islands (which are rocky throughout and covered in dense vegetation), much of it is grassy. The Island has been the focal point of restoration projects.

After walking around a bit and having our fill of the beach (covered in shells, by the way), we set off to go check out Mahurangi Harbour to the west. With some dangerous-looking rocks near its mouth and somewhat convoluted geography, we took it slow. Once we were safely esconced in the harbour, we donned our snorkeling gear not too far from shore and looked around for some sea life. Glenna saw a fish or two but, for whatever reason, the location we chose was pretty much dead. I did have a chance to practice my mask and snorkel clearing technique, however (thanks, Paul and Laura!).

On our way out of the Harbour, we decided to stop off at a cool looking island not too far from the entrance – Saddle Island (“Te Haupa”). The island is quite interesting, featuring strangely colored rocks and an amazing long, soft, sandy beach.

After a long period of making ad hoc sand castles and enjoying the beautiful scenery, we hopped back on our jet-ski and wound our way back along the coast, passing various landmarks (such as Mahurangi Island) on our return to Big Manly Beach. It was later in the day and – by this point – the water had started getting a bit choppy. Feeling comfortable by this point, we turned the throttle up a bit and had some fun heading back in.

After dropping the jet-ski off, we hopped in the car – tired, wet and having thoroughly enjoyed the experience – and started a long drive south for what would turn out to be a completely different sort of adventure: Black-water rafting/caving in Waitomo.

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Planning

The first thing we’d need to do is get passports. While we had spent some time out of the country in the past (Canada, pre-9/11), we hadn’t ever needed passports in the past. Contrary to the horror stories we’d both heard about the approval process, it took just a little over three weeks.

Naturally, being the sort that I am, I opted to pick up a few books. The ones I ultimately chose were from the Lonely Planet and Rough Guide series’, as well as a particularly excellent Insight Guide (which included nothing in the way of recommendations of specific restaurants/hotels – which we would mostly ignore – but plenty about the culture and history of the island nation).

With a timeframe in mind and some idea of what the country had to offer, the plan began to shape up. We would pick a few things to see and do in the north island (making reservations, etc), spending about a week there. We would then take the ferry across Cook Strait and spend another two weeks on the south island. Our time there would be a bit less regimented, though there were some things – Milford Sound, for example – that could not be missed.

Unfortunately, we would have only about 3 weeks to explore the country. While I had recently quit my job, Glenna couldn’t spend much time away from hers. I really wish we could have spent more time there (one could easily spend 3 weeks on each island), but ultimately my early concerns over feeling overly rushed were assuaged. Despite what you may have heard, with proper planning you can get a great taste of the country in 3 weeks.

Getting There

Like just about anyone else entering the country from the United States, our flight would arrive in Auckland – New Zealand’s largest city of about 1.3 million people (making it roughly comparable to San Diego, which it resembles).

Unfortunately, our initial foray into the country would be marred in a handful of ways.

First off, it all originated from the horrible, poorly-run airport known as Los Angeles International. Security theater is all well and good, but the TSA really should make a better effort to keep the lines moving.

The flight itself would last 12 hours, arriving a little after 4 AM. Tired (having been too excited for much sleep) and sore (having barely moved), we still had to go through Customs. Thankfully, that wasn’t too bad.

Arrival

Once we landed and took care of the essentials, we had to get a vehicle. I felt some dread in this; in New Zealand, you drive from the right side of the car, on the left side of the road.

Would I crash and burn only minutes after leaving the airport? Would I leave my wife and I squished upon the pavement, undoubtedly next to one of the country’s famed possums? Was starting our journey in the most populated cities a good idea? With some trepidation I took the keys and took to the road.

Thankfully, it wasn’t all that bad. Tired or not, having my initial foray on New Zealand’s roads take place before sunrise on a Sunday morning was a good idea. The lanes were mostly empty and whatever stupidity I would commence in – mostly running the windsheld wipers when I intended to signal (yes, those are opposite as well) – would go mostly unnoticed.

Within a day or so I managed to get the hang of driving (though the windshield wiper thing continued for about a week).

Around 6 AM, we checked into our hotel in downtown Auckland, took our bags to the 20th floor and promptly crashed. Kia Ora, New Zealand!

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