Category: Auckland

In lieu of a hangover, one can often count on the weather to write-off the day. My room was mostly full of drunk (but friendly) Irish when I got back from being out with Kevin and Karen – so I chatted with them before actually getting to bed. One of them must have left the curtains drawn open, because I woke up to gray skies and rain splattered windows. I decided there was no point in rushing my awakening, so I slept for a little while longer, then decided I’d better get up if I wanted to check out by ten.

I had planned on going to Weineke Island, but that didn’t seem too likely. My alternate plans were to tag along with Kevin and Karen to a free concert somewhere in the city. I figured they’d probably bail on account of the weather, but I gave them a call to confirm. They were having trouble getting details on the event, and with the inclement weather they figured they’d probably pass on the concert – but I agreed to call them in a couple of hours to see where things stood.

Kevin told me where I’d be likely to find some secondhand bookstores, so I headed there and picked up “The Name of the Rose” by Umberto Eco, and traded in David Baldacci’s “Total Control”, which wasn’t all that great – but made for a very quick read (nearly 700 pages in three days). Afterwards, I picked up Chinese currency.

I gave the Double Ks a call and we decided to meet for lunch and maybe head to the museum or something. The weather had improved, but they still had no idea when the concert started. Ever so generous, they treated me to another meal, yet again. Not as tasty as the night before, but still quite good. We headed to the bookstore to find out the museum times in the Lonely Planet – and decided we didn’t really have enough time to see the museum (it was a late lunch and the museum closed early).

Instead of the museum we took the scenic bus to the Domain and walked around there. Similar to Sydney’s Domain, we checked out the Fernz Fernery (Fernz is a local company, apparently), and the Winter Gardens (aka greenhouses), then walked past the Auckland museum, and across the otherside of the domain. We were close enough to Kevin and Karen’s place that we popped in for tea. There place is a nice studio apartment close to the CBD. I had an L&P soda, which was quite tasty, and we chatted for a bit – but before long it was time to head to the hostel and catch my shuttle to the airport. I bid Kevin and Karen adieu, with the hope that we’d meet again soon. Their travel plans in North America don’t get them too close to Toronto, but I told them I’d be happy to show them around and offer free accomodation if they do find themselves in the area.

The airport was as airports are. I had a few New Zealand dollars to burn, so I wandered through some of the airport shops, then hopped on my plane at about 30 minutes to midnight.

Woke up and had a look through the guidebook to see what was worth doing in Auckland. Nothing really jumped out at me, so I and turned my last day in Auckland into a write-off decided to follow Emad’s advice and hit up Devonport via ferry. I’d be heading out to Wieneke the next day, but I’d heard good things about Devonport too so I figured why not.

First on my list, though, was the market at Aotea Square. I had a wander through, but wasn’t really blown away by the goods. I decided I’d head to the ferry, but en route I stumbled across a store called Super $3 Japan or something to that effect. It was filled with lots of useless and useful Made-in-China items, ranging from makeup products to gardening tools. Some definitely worth less than $3, but other items that should have cost a lot more. I wandered around and marvelled at everything, but figured $3 was too much to pay when I was flying to China the following evening.

Ferry was relatively cheap. I stopped in at the tourist information booth to get an idea of what was worth seeing in Devonport and she recommended a route. I started out on it – first heading up Mt. Victoria. Devonport is connected with the North Island, but juts out enough that it sits across the harbour from the Auckland CBD, and as a result Mt. Victoria offered some nice views. I took some pictures and then plopped myself on the grass overlooking the city and read some of my book. I was tempted to finish the book and trade it in at one of the local secondhand shops (which I couldn’t find in the CBD at all), but there wasn’t much protection from the sun, and I’d forgotten to put on sunscreen. I headed back down the hill then walked along the shore towards North Head.

Grabbed a late lunch in Devonport, then headed back to the CBD for a look around. Did some more reading in a small park, then went in search of a bookstore. No luck finding anything secondhand, so I headed back to the hostel and had a shower and got ready for my evening plans.

Evening plans consisted of meeting up with Kevin and Karen at the Westpac on Queen Street at 6:30pm. To refresh your memory, Kevin and Karen were the Scottish couple from the Uluru tour. They’d been in Auckland for a month, having taken a break from travelling to work for a couple more months. They’re in Auckland till July or so, then plan on doing some travelling around New Zealand before heading to North America.

Our plan was to grab dinner at a local pub, but as Kevin was waiting in line for the cash machine, a young lady approached us and regaled us with tales of $3000 worth of free alcohol just waiting to quench our thirst at the Globe Bar – which was less than 100 metres around the corner. Our plans suddenly derailed, we headed to Globe Bar (a place Kevin and Karen had been to a few times, as it was steps away from the hostel they stayed in before finding a flat). For someone who really doesn’t drink too much, I found myself staring down yet another pint of beer in the same week. We stared down two more (since the price was so good) then we decided we were much too hungry to wait any longer. The two Ks treated me to a really nice dinner (and more beer) at a pub called (I think) the Playground in Aotea Square.

We headed to K Road (three people whose names start with K heading to K Road – go figure) to seek out the drag queens (but only saw one), then on to the Ponsonby neighbourhood, where we stopped at another bar and had another drink. Two brits, Abby and Michelle, who Karen and Kevin met when they first came to Auckland, met us there. Another bar (and beer, yikes) after that – this time at a place called the Chapel. It looked busy, but we found a table without much effort. Had another drink there, and decided to call it a night after that, which was just as well, as I think one more beer would have lead to my downfall. Shared a cab home and got to sleep early enough that tomorrow probably won’t end up being a write-off.