Our first stop is a place not-so-far from home, Auckland, New Zealand's lovely capital city. We arrived on Monday the 9th of June with no hitches whatsoever. Apart from the need for sleep, we felt fine.
Auckland from the Harbour Bridge
The thing about Auckland is, we don't really feel like we've left Australia. Everything here is so similar, from the lingo to the brands to the shops and the food - Auckland could be any Aussie city (but don't tell the Kiwis that).
We've also noticed that they're quite defensive about being Kiwis. This even comes through in their advertising on billboards and on TV. While relatively similar to Aussies, they do take the "puss" (piss) at us, their trans-tasman cousins. They think we've stolen every Kiwi icon imaginable (even Phar Lap and Russell Crowe) and they love the fact that Auckland's Skytower is the tallest tower in the Southern Hemisphere (even though the actual observation deck is way lower than Sydney's AMP tower). But we can't help but love these crazy Kiwis anyway!
We've seen some cool sites around Auckland and even visited the wonderful Waiheke island (where we've decided we HAVE TO buy a holiday house one day).
One of the good things about being a backpacker is the amount of cheap and free stuff on offer through the various hostels and backpacker networks to young travellers. If you're ever in Auckland sign up for a free tour of the city with Stray or Magic (tour companies), it's well worth it. Not only did we get to climb Auckland Harbour bridge for free (with a discounted bungee jump offer which we didn't take up) but we got to see some of the extinct volcanoes that Auckland is actually built on. One of the guys on our tour bus scored a free skyjump from the Sky Tower as well.
One of the good things about being a backpacker is the amount of cheap and free stuff on offer through the various hostels and backpacker networks to young travellers. If you're ever in Auckland sign up for a free tour of the city with Stray or Magic (tour companies), it's well worth it. Not only did we get to climb Auckland Harbour bridge for free (with a discounted bungee jump offer which we didn't take up) but we got to see some of the extinct volcanoes that Auckland is actually built on. One of the guys on our tour bus scored a free skyjump from the Sky Tower as well.
What's with backpackers accomodation always being in the red-light district?? We must say it adds some interesting flavour though. Almost every backpacker here is British (probably because there's a rugby match on tomorrow between England and the All Blacks) and we've already made friends we can look up when we hit the UK.
Here are some snapshots from Auckland:-
A Kiwi Big Mac Meal tastes exactly the same as in Australia.
Jetstar jumps on Waiheke Island.
Us on Waiheke.
We leave tomorrow for Los Angeles. Our American Summer is about to begin.
2 comments:
eeee syoks! :D put up more pics guys.. hehe!
sounds good guys! but im guessing your probably going to want to buy a holiday house in every place that you visit. Book us in for your first visitors there! yay!
keep posting, and i agree, more photos!
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