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Auckland
Entry 11 of 32 | show all | print this entry |
Had a good flght from Fiji ( about 5 hours ) Am now 13 hours ahead of the UK. Got to the Hostel about 14.00hours. My room is on the sixth floor. Place looks pretty good. Much bigger and better than the ones I stayed in, in the US. There is a rooftop bar on the sixth floor with pretty impressive views down Queen Street( which is the main street in Auckland ) They have jugs of beer for $7, bargain !!! So decide to drop my stuff and head straight in. Get chatting to a couple of Kiwi huys who are up for the night from Wellington to go to see Toto in concert ( if you are over 40 you will probably remember Africa etc ) Think that might be a good idea, tickets only $30. However when I ring they are sold out, suppose they would be at that price.
Have a good afternoon drinking beers, and resolve to meet this lads back here later this evening, then to go to the casino at the Skytower. Have a look around. Auckland centre seems very pleasant, and particularly clean and tidy. Have a look through the stacks of leaflets in the reception. Try to book on a free tour of the city the next day but it is booked up. Meet these guys in the basement bar about 22.30, and we have a drink and go off to the casino which is only two blocks away. Casino is quite impressive, but not on the scale of Vegas. However the skytower looming above it is very impressive, and is apparently the tallest building in the southern hemisphere! Worth a look I think. Spend a couple of hours there mostly on the roulette, and am pleased to leave about $30 dollars up. Turn in about 02.30.
Next morning I surface about 09.45 feeling a bit groggy. Check again about the free tour, and decide to see if I can get on it anyway, as it picks up outside the hostel. Get a result as there is a no show from this hostel, so am able to get on. The tour companies here all seem to do a one day free tour, aimed at backpackers, to try and get them to sign up for one of their packages to travel round New Zealand. The tour was very good though, and was pleasantly surprised there was no pressurised selling just leaflets handed out and a bit of a talk about what they did. Got taken to the skytower first, where 2 people won free bungy jumps off the skytower. Quite entertaining watching them.Then we got a tour round, showing you the beaches and port area, Auckland had a massive port, and it was packed as their was some kind of boat show on this week. We also got to see the part of the docks that was used for the Americas cup ( sailing ).
Got chatting to a few different people at lunch. There are so many people that have been to Australia. Thailand etc, lots of people to get advice off. Arrange to meet a couple of the lads for dinner, as they going to show me some of their photos of Oz.
Have booked on a 3 day tour going north of Auckland from tomorrow, timescale is a bit tight but it is a good way of getting out of the city to see some of NZ.
Had a great steak for dinner and got to see loads of pictures of Oz, and managed to get a better idea what I want to see while I am there. Also went up the skytower to see the sunset. Amazing view of the city from there.
One of the lads I met today is on the tour also, so can continue to pick his brains about Oz. Earlier night tonight, and only a few beers, as have got a couple of really hectic days ahead...............
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