Auckland at a Glance

Arriving from an early flight from Nadi, I found myself in the Auckland airport and greeted by an impressive entranceway featuring some nice carvings from the native Maori people, or at least a convincing replica of it. In fact, much of New Zealand, particularly the North Island, has a strong Maori influence in terms of the people, the place names, the architecture, and of course, the bloody history of colonization. Anyway, I arrived in the airport, again with no plans for the day, nor a place to stay, nor with much of an idea of the city, as I hadn't had much time to devote to researching Auckland itself. I wandered aimlessly, stumbling upon a free computer for a few minutes and then a very helpful information booth. Being a country very accessible to tourists, New Zealand has tons of information booths, brochures and maps everywhere that you find a large number of tourists, so this proved to be great luck for me. I browsed a few brochures and talked with the assistants before deciding to book my hostel. My first choice was on lunch break by the time we called, so we went for the second choice, just up the road, Lantana Lodge in the city section known as Parnell. I took a shuttle from the airport, and upon entering the neighborhood of Parnell, I was immediately pleased with my choice. The streets are lined with coffee shops, cafes, restaurants and more, surrounded by quaint houses, mostly of classic Victorian style, quite an elegant and demure look. My hostel is a large, old house that has been converted into a hostel with a beautiful bright yellow tree standing in the front yard, in the midst of a residential community and only a small sign indicating its presence. I met a few of the obligatory Germans, Brits and Israelis in the hostel, then I started my walk downtown to explore the city.

The city center/centre (or CBD - Central Business District) was only a 20 or 30 minute walk from the hostel, so I headed downhill, towards the waterfront and some of Auckland's major attractions. My first impressions of the city were some very nice views of laid back cafes, a multitude of parks and trees, a picturesque bay and a few unique, nicely designed buildings that would make my urban architecture loving friends happy (Paul, in particular). I walked along the ever popular Queens Street along with a bunch of other tourists and annoyed locals as I zig-zagged back and forth across the sidewalk, taking pictures, looking for cheap souvenirs and places to eat and deciding which side of the sidewalk was the appropriate side to pass on, considering that the drivers here drive on the other side of the road, much as the walkers veer to the left instead of right when coming upon another walker, though tourists don't always follow the rules. It's like a game of paper, rock, scissors, where you try to out-think and predict the next move of your opponent before making a deft, last second move, though there were a few of those awkward moments when both people move the same direction, then the other, then stop and laugh, then the same direction again, until someone finally pushes the other one out of the way. And they say Americans are rude...I don't know where they came up with that. After a tragic meal at a Thai noodle house in a sort of food court/alley, I gazed upwards and found my way to the Sky Tower - Auckland's version of Seattle's Space Needle. (The meal was tragic because in spite of finding a decent Thai noodle dish, just as I sat down, I looked up and found the one single place that I had missed along the food alley was another Thai place advertising one of my favorite meals ever, nam tok, but it was too late to cancel my other order, so I had to sit and dream of the beefy, cabbagey, spicy, basily goodness that could have been mine) The Sky Tower certainly dominates the skyline at 328 meters (about 1,000 ft), being the tallest structure in the Southern Hemisphere, and it has an observatory and point from which you can do a sort of sky dive with some cables down to the bottom from at around 600 feet above the street below, in true Kiwi fashion, infusing a bit of outdoor/adventure into even its buildings.

I also visited one of the many parks within the city, Albert Park, and enjoyed the warm, sunny day along with many of the University of Auckland students laying out around the park, under trees, on benches, on blankets in the green grass, listening to the chirping of birds and insects. I took a brief walking tour of the campus, right on a nice hill downtown and visited the nearby Auckland Museum for some lessons on local history, flora and fauna. In addition, the museum has a wing devoted to New Zealand's major wars, including WWI and WWII, so I learned a little about ANZAC Day, the impressively large percentage of the population that joined our side during those wars (one of the highest percentages as a percent of the total population, if not the highest), and a melancholic display devoted to the Holocaust - some of the tragedies and some of the triumphs as the memory of those horrible times and the lessons learned live on. Working my way through these exhibits and reading the stories of the young soldiers and prisoners, their sacrifices, losses and incredible achievements once again reminded me of what a completely different time and life they experienced and gave me a further appreciation and gratitude for the relatively easy lives that they have afforded us. Many of them years younger than I am today gave their lives selflessly in the name of freedom and country, and here I am today, complaining about having to work long hours or not knowing what city to visit next. A particularly poignant quote on one of the boards from a general at a crucial, bloody battle said something to the effect of "I'm not asking you to fight for your country; I'm asking you to die for your country." And that is exactly what many of them did. Besides the unimaginable situation of being in the war, the emotions and repressed memories that come out of those who experienced it must be similarly unbelievable, witnessing and being part of some of the worst expressions of human character and conflict.

On a lighter note, I did find a bus ride that encircled the city, did a cheap city tour, saw some of the other interesting neighborhoods that surround the CBD and generally got a good impression of the city. Wrapped around a pleasant green harbor, the city and its suburbs dot the volcanic hills of the countryside, stretching out and amassing a population of around 1.5 million people. Despite the opinion of some of those outside of Auckland, it's a rather nice city, green, clean, friendly enough, and attractive enough to warrant a visit (not to mention the fact that most international flights will come to its airport anyway). After my two nights here, I'm going to rent a car and tour the North Island for about a week.

(A view of the city and the Sky Tower from across the harbor. This view was taken one-handed in moderate traffic at 50 mph, approaching a guard rail and road divider (to which I almost got a little too close), driving on the wrong side of the road, checking my map, so I hope you appreciate it. The black dots that appear to be in the sky are apparently a few of the unlucky bugs that my car met along the way.)

(Some of the many attractive gardens and trees in the city parks, this one just outside the Auckland Museum.)

(The CBD and Albert Park from the Sky Tower)

(We've got a jumper...but in a good way. The 192 meter plunge from the observation deck to the bulls-eye below, attached to cables on each side that slow you down.)