Auckland (New Zealand)

Superman!!!

The day I left Australia was my 6 month anniversary away from home. I actually completely forgot that fact on the day as you tend to forget anything time related. I'v come to realise that time doesn't travel in straightforward lines but merely wiggles about through space to compliacte and confuse people - thats if it even travels at all. When you travel, you generally have no idea what day of the week it is, what date or even when your supposed to stop to eat lunch. Actually the reason that I had no idea it was on my 6 month's of traveling was because I was too worried about my plane flight. Never before have I been scared of a routine trip towards the stratosphere, but my airliner (Quantas) had been having some severe problems in the past week. Within 8 days, all their planes decided to stop working, including an emergancy landing in Manilla after a hole was blown in the fuselage, one plane had to turn back when the wheel shutters wouldn't close and two other planes were seen as unfit to take off. Three hours later I landed safely in New Zealand's largest city - Auckland.

For the first four days I spent my time along the suburbs of the city. I had some distant relatives (third cousins as I believe I have worked out correctly) - Lili and Cliff who I was going to meet and spend some time with. They live about a 45 minute drive away from the city centre in a small town called Howick. The few days I spent there provided a perfect introduction to New Zealand. We spent our time admiring the suburban beaches of Mission Bay, St Heliers and beyond. The countryside is just how you imagine the North Island countryside to look like - generally flat land, punctured by small rounded hills (most of them extinct volcanoes - this is the Auckland Volcanic Field) filled with grazing sheep. They say that there are more sheep than people in New Zealand. It's not a difficult fact to believe - this isn't a very populated country. All in all there are approximately 4.5 million people in NZ. In London alone we reach over 12 million inhabitants. I was interested to see during my time here whether in some places I would actually see people at all!!!

Liliy and Cliff certainly looked after me during my stay with them. They took me up the top of One Tree Hill (an extinct volcano of course) which should actually be called None Tree Hill as the tree had to be chopped down some years ago due to old age. I hear they are planting a new one. At the top you get great views over Auckland's city centre and beyond. We also headed out to areas even further away from town where I could sample life in the real New Zealand countryside, and I met other relatives of mine - who I have no idea in what way and if it's even physically possible to work out - but who were all very welcoming none-the-less. I thank them both for taking me in, showing me the sights and keeping me well fed. I am also very interested to see some of the adverts that Lili (an accomplished actress) has stared in and are showing at this very moment - although only in the south island. Eyes are peeled.

After those few days I finally made it into Auckland city centre where I spent another short while. A good friend from home - Darren had emailed me about a month and a half ago and said that he was bored with his job in London and was thinking about coming out to see me. I told him he should - so thats what he did. Darren arrived in Auckland and we would be spending at least the next month traveling the country together. The plan is actually to spend most of our travels in the South Island, simply because on September 15th I have a job starting in Taupo (North Island) studying volcanoes with a company called GNS (Geological and Nuclear Sciences). I then have another month working in Auckland in the same field. As such I would see the sights of the North Island later on and Darren would decide if he was to join me in finding work or heading home. Ultimately it meant that we didn't spend much time in Auckland - we wanted to move on as quickly as we could. Before we left we did have a look around - along the harbour, through the streets which Darren said reminded him of New York - I told him many cities in Australia looked likewise.

We did also have time for one activity. New Zealand is the home of extreme sports. If you can leap off something tall in a ridiculous way then the kiwi's will have done it first. We headed over to the tallest structure in the southern hemisphere - the Auckland Sky Tower. From there they have whats called a base wire jump. It's not like a bungy or a sky dive - I suppose it's somewhere inbetween. Attached to your back is a rope / wire, you head over to the platform, situated at 192m (630ft) above the ground and then leap off the tower to a target below. The decend is controlled. So what happens is you jump, fall for just 10 meters and then they hold you there, dangling, 182m from the city street - so you can have your photo taken. You have to attempt to look happy at this point - 'cheese' was not on my mind. Then when the pics are all done - you plumet to the ground in what is the highest jump in the southern hemisphere (besides sky diving). Actually you don't fall that fast and as you reach the bottom the rope tightens for a smooth landing. The views over the city are incredible though. I would say the only really scary part about the whole thing is when your at the top and you look down - your so far up that you can barely see the red target or any people whatsoever, which didn't fare well as i'v decided 100% to do New Zealand's scariest bungy jump (the Nevis) in a few weeks. Darren and I both took the plunge and then naturally bought the DVD. Afterwards we headed back up the tower so we could get some photo's of Auckland when your not falling to the ground at high speed.

Of all the bad things people say about Auckland, I found my time here most enjoyable. I would definately be back here in a few months for work and will get to explore New Zealand's largest city further then. First though we were heading south - and the first stop on our route was sulphur city, also known as - Rotorua.........