Reached Auckland around 1pm, and immediately overwhelmed by the abundance of Indians EVERYWHERE. Indians as taxi drivers, shuttle drivers, receptionists, cleaners, dairy owners... This is not me being racist, this is me being shocked at the number of Indians in Auckland city centre.
We managed to find a Chinese taxi driver who drove us to May's friend's place at Symonds Street. Kang is the name of the guy who so kindly offered his apartment (more like studio unit) for us 4 girls to stay for a week. He's definitely got a one-of-a-kind name- Khoo Choo Kang. I have no idea when we started calling him Choo Khoo Kang instead, and it's amusing when I realised that it sounds so similar to Phua Chu Kang.
Anyway, we settled down and started going around the city central that afternoon itself. So off we go, the 4 blind mice, armed with a map as our guide, and searched high and low for a supermarket. Foodtown was the nearest one (over 45 mins walk!) where we bought some groceries and walked another 45 mins back.
It was exhausting. The weather was hot and dry, the sun was shining like there's no tomorrow, and the groceries weren't light. So that's basically how we spent the 1st day in Auckland.
The unmissable landmark.
Skycity + Imax.
The Skytower; tallest building in Auckland.Having familiarised ourselves with some parts of Auckland city central, we spent the morning at Victoria Park Market, and had superb dim sum at a nearby Chinese restaurant. Bought accessories and a super cute/cheap batik skirt for 6 bucks!
Afternoon was spent shopping along Queen St, the nearest main shopping district. I personally thought it was quite similar to George St in Dunedin, except it has 5 times more shops and 100 times more people.
One thing worth mentioning was the sighting of 3 tankers right in the middle of Queen St. It was really peculiar, especially since there wasn't any special events or parades going on that time, and the army guy sitting in the tankers appeared to be really SMILEY. And, he waved, too. Heh.
Someone told me that during Christmas, a Santa Claus climbs through that "chimney". Woot.
One of the mysterious tankers; too bad you can't see his charming smile.
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