Day 4 - Devonport/Northshore

North bound.

The weather started playing tricks and took away the sunshine. But we stayed on with our plan, which is going to Northshore. We took a 15 min ferry ride to Devonport, then another 20 min bus ride to the heart of Northshore. Though Northshore is part of Auckland, it's considered as a separate city itself- a city filled with rich people with expensive cars (6 out of 10 cars on the road are BMWs).

Devonport was beauutiful. It looked like a mini version of Miami, provided that it was hot and sunny. Palm trees swaying in the breeze, scenic walks around the peninsula etc made it a perfect tourist attraction. We walked around a bit, and climbed another mountain- Mount Victoria to get a nice view. *I have no idea why we're so keen on climbing nountains*.

After that, we headed on to Northshore. Lunch sucked. Actually, it was the worst lunch I've ever had. And the worst way to spend NZ$12.00. We ordered some kind of seafood korean noodles at "Korean Restaurant" (yeaps, very creative ay), but what came out looked good but tasted horrible. It had no taste at all, and the seafood meant 1 mussel with tiny dried shrimps sold at Kuching Sunday Market. After a whole lot of complaining, we got 50 cent Burger King sundae ice-creams which tasted so much better. Moral of the story, only dine in restaurants prior to friends' recommendation.

Pretty disappointed at what Northshore had to offer. We expected more, I guess. However, it was still a good experience especially when you're travelling to an unknown place.

At the wharf before ferry ride.

The musical fence at Devonport.

Windsurfing at Northshore.

Crappiest meal. Beware!!!

Cute mushroom stools on Mount Victoria.

Day 3 - Newmarket/Mount Eden climb

Day 3 - Shopping Mania

Angeline brought us to Newmarket aka shopping district, which is about 15 minutes away by a train ride. *I can barely remember the last time I boarded a train*.

Due to time contraints, we cut short shopping time and climbed the famous Mount Eden instead. The climb was sure tiring *yeap, I stepped on cow poo!*, but the view on top was well worth it. Too bad it wasn't very sunny that day as clouds and mist blocked the amazing 360 degrees view of Auckland. Also, on top of Mount Eden (a dead volcano) is a deep crater now the habitat of cows. Hehe.

Britomart- train station at city central.

Moo-ing in the crater; and many tourist buses.

Scenic- more cows on the grassy plain.

View of the city, a bit foggy though.

Mission accomplished!

Day 1 & 2 - Arrival in Auckland

Day 1 - Hot as.

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.

Day 2 - Warming up.

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.

Pre-Auckland: Departure

This post marks the beginning of a series of posts about my trip to Auckland. Enjoy!

Left Dunedin for Christchurch on Monday night, 13th November using the crappiest ever shuttle service- Knight rider. Why? Let me explain.

The bus was due to arrive at a local takeaways at 8.30pm, but got there at 9pm. Then, while everyone was already on the bus waiting for the driver to get on it, he suddenly told us all to get down. It went something like this: "What are you guys doing on the bus?! Didn't I tell you to wait for me to tick off your names? Get down now!!! Do you all want to miss your flights? I can just leave you here and not refund any money! How do you feel about that, huh? I can charge you all for fraud, you know that?!" bla bla. The idiotic/drunk driver went on and on about how "irresponsible" we are, and even demanded an apology from us. I can't believe it when he even accused of US being racist! -___-

Got on the bus *finally* close to half past nine. The other passengers on the bus told us that apprently he was drunk. Either that, or he's just plain crazy. He's lucky that I didn't sue him for bad customer service and racism. Sheesh. Note to self: NEVER EVER use knight rider again!

There's always a silver lining behind every cloud. That's something my English teacher told me once, and a verse that somehow got stuck in my mind all these years. I got on the bus and sat next to a friendly Malaysian girl headed home *surprisingly* to Kuching. It was nice having someone to talk to, while watching "Bourne Identity" being aired on the bus, and watching the 6 hours go pass.

Reached Christchurch Intl airport around 3.30am, fetched by Janice and Rebec back home for a quick nap before leaving for Auckland later during the day.

Next post-- Day 1: Arrival in Auckland.

Jobless

I'm baaaack!

Auckland was sure interesting. Spent almost 9 days holidaying, spending, and eating like a pure tourist. I'll post up pictures and stories about our adventure in the next few days, or when I finally decide to get out of my lazy mode.

Still out hunting for a summer job, am actually getting quite desperate now! I keep wondering what to do if I really don't get a job here. Shucks.

Deepest sympathy to Tao and his injured finger (right 2nd distal phalanx to be specific). I really thought he lost the last bit of his finger. *It certainly looked shorter than normal*. However, he still managed to play badminton just now, with his left hand, of course. The guys got a bit crazy towards the end and decided to all play with their left hands. The Unipol people must think we're a bunch of crazy students. hehe.

Wish me luck in more job-hunting business tomorrow!