Auckland, NZ

Kia Ora!!

That's Maori for G'day. The Maori are the native Polynesian people of New Zealand and their culture came through strongly on my brief (1.5 day) visit to Auckland last weekend. Why would I jet over to New Zealand right before I'm about to come home? Because I was about to overstay my three month welcome in Australia and had to get a short extension. The timing worked out great, however - my manager on my project, VN, is from Auckland and had just moved back. She happened to be free and was a fantastic tour guide / hostess.

I have to say that although the city is nice, it's not the most exciting place I've visited. I was really glad for VN's company and knowledge of the surrounding area. Friday late afternoon we met for drinks near my hotel (right on the water) and then I walked around and got to know the city a bit. Here are my highlights:

 On Saturday we met for lunch at a great restaurant called spqr where I had a fantastic seafood dish and a great glass of NZ pinot noir.

Then, we went for a drive up a volcano - Maungawhau to be exact!! Auckland actually has several volcanos all around and in it, caused by the Auckland volcanic field. The vents from the field have produced craters and cones over time. The Maori used to live on them and use them as fortifications. You could see where they had altered it to make a terrace on the volcano we went up. We had a great view of the city - it's really long and narrow.

Finally we headed to Piha beach, a 45 minute beautiful drive from the city. Black sands, great views, and most of the time great surfing. We poked around a bit, stood in the ocean, and enjoyed being outside. (Trekking would typically be in the cards, but if you hadn't noticed from the above picture VN is quite pregnant, so we did the low key version which was fine with me!)

As you can see it was a bit misty. The thing about Auckland this time of year is that it rains on and off constantly. Like every 10 minutes. Rain. Sun. Rain. Sun. And no one minds getting wet since they know they will dry!

After these wonderful adventures VN dropped me back off to my hotel and I enjoyed some fresh NZ lamb for dinner at a restaurant on the water before catching a really, really early Sunday morning flight back to Melbourne. Not bad for a day and a half, eh?