*Kara says: We took a nice walk through downtown Auckland, seeing what the city has to offer. One of the last stops was the art museum- Auckland Art Gallery! It had a really fun Olafur Eliasson exhibition that was interactive, and a surprisingly large collection of Goya prints. In my opinion the best part of the museum is the collection of beautiful and realistic portraits of elderly Maori by Charles F Goldie. It was a nice ramble, and one of the most notable things about Auckland are the beautiful parks! There are so many and they are beautiful.*
We found an AMAZING park in the middle of the city called Western Park. You think it's just a small grassy area at first, and then you get on the grass and walk to an edge and look down and it's just this vast hill with wild-growing old trees and windy paths. And that's not even Auckland's main park! (It also has some cool sculptures- chunks of buildings that look like they're growing out of the ground- which are not pictured here but can be seen here).
We hiked to the summit of Rangitoto, which was a pretty intense uphill hike that lasted about an hour. We are not in as good shape as we thought we were. We hiked though Lava Ash, basically, which was a really cool experience. We also took a detour to check out some lava caves!
*Kara says: They were just too polite to say how terrified they were of our driving. With the combination of new car/old car quirks and noises, driving on the left, driving on narrow winding mountain roads, roundabouts, and lack of grid system (yay Chicago!) we had an interesting voyage.*
As with all things in New Zealand, they are beyond beautiful. Piha is on the Western Coast, and the sand is black because of the high iron content (from the volcanos, of course.) We had a great time playing around on the beach, but you can't swim there because there's a very dangerous riptide. Also, it was cold.
We hiked down a path that, out of nowhere, made us feel like we were in the rainforest. Beach to rainforest (not really though- though they do have them in NZ) in minutes! We came to the waterfall, and then hiked a bit further to get to the base of it. If it had been a bit warmer, we would have swam. What a sight!
Life at the hostel here in Auckland has been really great. We've met cool people from tons of countries- France, Germany, Ireland, the UK, Chile, etc etc. We're staying in a five bed dorm (all women) and it's been a mix of people around Kara and my age, and older retired folks. People are very respectful of privacy so it's been great in the dorm. There is a shared kitchen with 3 shared fridges and a space for everyone's dry food, and people are very respectful of that as well. There's a comfy lounge with some nice couches and a cute breakfast nook, and there's even a small dining room off to the side of the kitchen. We've also got a really cozy and generous yard space, which we used for a very chilly but fun hostel BBQ night on Friday!
We like it here a lot, but hostels can be hard too. There are 40 people, with probably about a 50/50 split for women and men, and the ladies share one bathroom. We had a snorer in our room at first, which--- aaaah. It can be hard maneuvering around the kitchen at meal-times, and just as a general rule, you're never alone.
Hostels are a great option for us but I think we're going to largely avoid them becauuuuseee... our new plan is to travel the South Island for a month or two doing Help Experience homestays and housesitting! You can live and eat for free with a family, as long as you do a few hours of work for them a day. Over the holidays, you can stay for a month at a family's house You stay for about a week at a time doing all sorts of things, and we can see what spots we like best without spending too much money! If we like a place and they like us, we can stay a bit longer and even pick-up a part time job, maybe. It'll be a great way to see a ton of the South Island, look for work without spending billions at hostels, and get to meet some real New Zealanders.
Tomorrow we're off to get the car fixed (!! ugh), and see Auckland Domain (the main- and HUGE- Auckland park) and the Auckland Museum. On Thursday, should all go well with the car, we're off to Hobbiton!