First week in Auckland

Auckland, Monday 12-May

Lost a day as we flew over the date line from Rarotonga to Auckland. Nice flight, and no trouble getting to the hostel - although the shuttle bus driver drove the van like a race car!

We checked into the Lantana Lodge, a hostel in the Parnell area of Auckland.

Tuesday 13-May

Since we had no groceries, we got up early and walked up to Parnell Rd for breakfast. Pastries and little pies (both sweet and savoury) are very popular here and all the convenience stores and cafes have them, so we found a nice cheap place and had great coffee and pastries for breakfast. The fact that you can get a fresh baked lamb & mint, or steak & mushroom pie for $2-3NZ at every corner shop has me wanting to stop twice a day!

Then we wandered around Parnell for a little bit - it's a very nice neighborhood with charming shops and many Victorian houses. Auckland is hilly and has lots of coastline so this older part really reminded us of San Francisco. Eventually wandered back to the hostel, got directions to the nearest supermarket, Foodtown, and went there to stock up. Food and household goods seem fairly expensive here - even considering the exchange rate. We will definitely be eating a lot of oatmeal, sandwiches, rice, beans and pasta while we're here. The cheapest meats are fresh sausages and they're pretty good. I expected lamb to be really inexpensive but it's about the same price as ground beef (called "mince") at ~$9-10NZ per kg. We bought some marinated lamb chops on sale for dinner - very good :)

In addition to jelly babies (my favorite), they have lots of strange gummy candies here, everything from gummy volcanos to mushrooms to eskimos. Lots of wine gums too, but I can't find the good pastilles. Oh and good licorice of course.

After shopping, we walked around Parnell some more and had a nice chat with a mobile library bus driver... who turned out to be from Shreveport, LA! He'd been in NZ for about 10 years and sounded like a native kiwi to us. He told us when he first came over he did roofing, and impressed everyone here because he could take the "terrible" summer heat better than the locals... haha.

Wednesday 14-May

Today we went to the nearby Auckland Museum which has a fantastic collection of Maori and pacific islanders art and artifacts. Amazing handicrafts - woven, carved, beaded, stamped, etc. (Dianna - you would have loved it!) They also had a nice exhibit on NZ flora and fauna - included a stuffed moa... they are truly huge. We only managed to see about half the museum before we ran out of time, so we'll have to go back. The museum is situated in a large park called the Auckland Domain and we walked around for a bit - just beautiful and full of tree ferns and magnificent old knarled trees. That evening after dinner we went out with some folks from the hostel and had a great time- Artur, Felix, and Francie from Germany, and Harry from London (originally France). Everyone of course has perfect English...

Thursday 15-May

Today we started looking for a van in earnest. We went to the backpacker car mart and test drove a van owned by a nice German couple. The van was nice, but not exactly what we wanted so we kept looking. That afternoon we walked the length of K Rd and Ponsonby Rd... lots of shops and people watching. We went inside a promising used bookstore, but the prices were very high so we didn't get anything. I had hoped to visit a famous pie shop that is in the lonely planet guidebook, but sadly they have moved. Then we caught the bus home and spent more time researching vans...

Friday 16-May

Today we test drove another van, named "Harry", but it was kind of on its last legs (or wheels?) So we didn't buy it. The owners were a very friendly Finnish couple - everyone has been really friendly here. We walked by another promising van and called the owner, but the van had completely died in just the past few days... And the guy would've talked to us about it forever :)

Since we hadn't found a good van yet we decided to check lumber prices at a local hw store to see how much it would cost to kit out a van ourselves. Lumber and tools are a little more here, but if we had had a place to do it we could certainly build a bed platform and kitchen stand.

After that we walked home through the Auckland Domain park and got to spend a few minutes in the tropical hothouse before it closed. Justin asked an employee about a particular plant and they guy turned out to be extremely friendly and told us it was the largest cycad sinesis in the southern hemisphere and that "she" was a really special tree. She was outgrowing the hothouse though and so they were trying to decide what to do with her when she hits the roof in a few years... Probably move her to another hothouse. Anyways it was a beautiful place and we planned to go back. By the time we got back we were dead tired so we splurged and went to the local Irish Pub for dinner, The Bog,... more steak pie for me :)

Saturday 17-May

Today we went to another car market but didn't find anything good. Went back to the backpacker mart and test drove a really nice but big van owned by a dreadlocked couple from Spain - very nice and amusing... but we couldn't agree on a price. Had lunch at an Indian restaurant because we we're too far from the hostel to go back, haggled about the van price some more but still couldn't get anywhere so we gave up and went home. Stopped at Foodtown again on the way. Shopping for vans is NOT a holiday... ugh.

Sunday 18-May

Today we caught a ride to the big weekly car fair in Ellerslie with Francie who was trying to sell her station wagon. We found a nice looking red van that was all kitted out, but the mechanical inspection found severe rust damage and various other problems that would've cost a lot to fix before it would pass the NZ inspection. So we had to pass and go back to the mart. We felt terrible for the owner - an extremely nice but shy German girl who had been here working on horse farms for the past year and was leaving the next day...

Then we talked to an American named Ryan who had a nice van that we hadn't considered before due to price, but he had lowered it by the end of the day, so we test drove it and agreed on a price - hurray! It was too late for the mechanical inspection, so we agreed to meet in the morning and get it inspected...

He gave us a ride back into town and dropped us off on K Rd, where we stumbled upon a great international foodcourt and asian supermarket... finally some good prices! Justin got to eat at a similar foodcourt all the time in SF.

Monday 19-May

Waited all morning to hear back from the mechanic (NZ has it's own version of island time), but we eventually got an appointment at 3pm. The van passed with no problems so we did the transfer of ownership and afterwards went to a pub with Ryan - a very nice guy - to celebrate and to get some tips on where to go and camp in NZ. The name of the pub was The Dog's Bollux. Lamb for me and chili for Justin.

Tuesday 20-May

Today the plan was to get up, stock up the van with supplies and head south to a campground but it didn't work that smoothly...

First our shopping took longer than expected, then we couldn't find our shops because we had lost our good map, but a stranger on the street offered to help and actually called Information on his mobile for us to get directions! This act of charity was by far the highlight of the day :) but it was sadly followed up by mean ladies in the fabric store chewing me out for taking photos of the store - humph. So I have posted the ones I managed to take just to spite them.

And then the coup de grace - we walk back to our van, but it had been towed! Argh... we had unknowingly parked in a lane that is parking during the off-hours and a bus lane during rush hour... fortunately some nice folks at a nearby petrol station helped us out and we called the police and walked to the impound lot and got the van back. Way easier than it would've been in the US... and the ticket was only $112.

Then we still had to go to the supermarket and when we were almost done the fire alarm went off and everyone had to vacate... By now we were hungry, tired and just a little cranky. Eventually we got to go back in and buy our stuff.

Then we hightailed it out of Auckland - stopping at a Burger King on the way (which is decorated as a 50's diner here). We made it out of town, found a campground and went to bed - whew!

Photos of Auckland