‘Ello, Auckland (Jan 12 - 13)

Friday afternoon found us arriving in Auckland at about 1 PM after a short 3-hr flight from Fiji. In a delay I’ve never experienced before, the flight was a bit late as we had to wait in Fiji for an extra half hour to allow the customs department to process a significant number of passengers on our flight – customs lines usually operate at a pretty laconic pace, but that was a new one for me. Otherwise the flight was uneventful.

Despite the shortness of the flight, the difference in latitude between Fiji and New Zealand became quickly apparent, as the weather in Auckland was much cooler than Fiji. It was sunny and about 90ºF in Fiji, but was a cool 70ºF and drizzling in New Zealand. It apparently has been a rather chilly, wet summer thus far in New Zealand, which, though a bit annoying to us, seems to make sense in a cosmic fashion, as it’s been unseasonably warm in the Northeast US this year.

Cool and cloudy in Auckland

When we started planning this trip, we thought we would cleverly be able to escape the cold Northeast winter in the States by going to balmier New Zealand climes, but so far the joke seems to be on us. I don’t usually root for really cold weather to hit Pennsylvania, but it really would make me feel better about the whole thing if I knew traveling halfway across the world would at least bring some nice weather! Sorry, friends and family who live there, but that’s how we roll. Who knows, maybe New Zealand will also have a warm winter this year as well.

Anyway, after our flight, just like obtaining our working holiday visas, getting through customs was a breeze in New Zealand – the passport agent asked us a few cursory questions about what we’d likely be doing on our working holiday visas and looked at our visa print-outs, but didn’t require us to show that we had sufficient funds to live on and return to the US with. Either he forgot, or NZ figures that if you think you need to prove that you’ve got enough funds to return home, you will actually have those funds, and they don’t need to go to the bother of checking your bank account print-out. I have to say that that does have a certain bit of logic to it. But since they didn’t check, hope they don’t get mad when they find out I’ve only got $50 to my name, and they’ll have to pay my way if they want me to go home by the end of the year! I’m kidding of course, mostly.

Prior to getting through customs Becky had convinced herself that entering New Zealand would for some reason be rather difficult, or that they wouldn’t let us through at all on some technicality. Happily, that turned out not to be the case. She had had similar fears that we would not be able to get on our earlier flights as well, but hadn’t mentioned that to me. So it was with a sigh of relief from her that we got through customs. I, on the other hand, hadn’t even really considered the possibility that our visas wouldn’t work, so I only had a momentary feeling of retroactive panic at the possibility of not getting through. But as they’re fond of saying down here, no worries.

After landing we called for a shuttle to take us to our lodging for the first few nights in Auckland, Verandahs Backpackers Lodge, where we again got a double room. Verandahs is in a large, old house right in the Ponsonby neighborhood on the edge of Western Park in Auckland. Ponsonby is apparently a rather hip area with a lot of trendy bars/cafes and a pretty gay-friendly vibe. Despite not having a grocery store in very close walking distance, it seems to be a pretty cool area of the city.

View of Verandahs from Western Park

On our first day in the city, Friday, we walked for several hours, taking in a bunch of the city and meeting people in the hostel. It was Becky's first time in a hostel, so that was quite neat for her. On Saturday we didn't get much accomplished either, beyond having some great fish and chips and finding a supermarket so that we could eat less expensively. We also managed to withdraw enough funds to buy a car through the magic of international ATMs. Due to the fact that midnight EST is at 6 PM here, we can withdraw up to US$1000 each in a five-minute span in the evening.

The Best Fish and Chips in Auckland!

With all the rain we’ve had so far in Auckland, the greenness of the city, the Sky Tower looming above the skyline, its political leanings, some native-inspired art, and a rather hip and casual vibe, Auckland seems to be pretty similar to Seattle to us. That might just be the rain talking, but the comparison doesn’t seem totally out-of-line so far. In spite of all the clouds, it's recommended that people wear an SPF 30 sunscreen everyday, as the amount of UV is relatively high here, owing to the ozone hole over Antarctica. One other thing: we haven't even driven here yet, but the driving-on-the-left is a major issue when you're crossing the streets! Looking left-right-left doesn't work here, and will probably get you flattened. It's a tough one to unlearn after a lifetime of crossing the street in the US: hopefully we get it before we have a Frogger experience!