Auckland, first full day and ready to explore

  Auckland, North Island, New Zealand
Thursday, March 26, 2009

Day Two - I was ready to start tackling more of my Auckland Must See list. After walking around the day before, I was comfortable with where I wanted to go and fairly sure how to get there. I grabbed brekky, aka breakfast, at a cafe by the hotel and headed to the harbor.

Queens St ends at the harbor

One of the goals for this trip is to test out my "trekking" skills and decided to visit one of the volcanic islands just off of Auckland. I took the ferry to Rangitoto Island, which doubled as a harbor cruise, as I was able to see some of the other islands and sights on the way.
Rangitoto formed after a volcanic eruption about 400 years ago. The native people of NZ, Maori, were most likely able to watch this happen, which gave the island significance in their recent folk lore. The weather continues to be phenomenal, so I was excited to do the hour-long hike to the summit and back.

Rangitoto in the distance

The hike was considered a medium level difficulty, and I was ready to test out my new trail running shoes. It probably would have been a good idea to test them prior to this trip, but I somehow ran out of time before departure to find a mountain to trek in Jacksonville... The ferry landed at Rangitoto a little before 11 a.m., and the next ferry departed at 12:45. To do the other things on my list later that day, I knew I needed to make the next ferry. I also knew I wanted to make it to Rangitoto's summit, which was supposed to be an hour and back. I thought "surely I have done a 15k recently - how hard can it be?"

There was a path next to the lava rocks!

Apparently it is not that easy...But, it turned out to be a great workout and I had a pretty healthy glow by the time I got to the top. And I was won over with the hiking bug with the amazing scenery through lava trails and forests, and the beautiful scenes from the summit.

View from the summit - ahh!

After Rangitoto, I wanted to check out Auckland Museum. All guidebooks and even locals recommend a stop at the museum, which was right up my alley, I didn't need to be convinced! I grabbed a cab from the harbor and was on my way.

Auckland Museum

The museum has 3 floors, covering NZ Natural History, NZ War History and Maori culture, all of which were easy to explore and well laid-out. I am a museum nerd and had a blast. Even spent the extra money to watch a Maori cultural performance - beautiful!

Maori tribal hut

The museum is on the other side of town and I was determined to figure out the city bus system. Fortunately I got lost trying to find the bus stop, because I stumbled open an area called the Auckland Domain, which is a gorgeous system of parks, trails and ponds. And it was still a beautiful day, so I didn't mind the extra walk. It's really a different feeling - getting lost in a strange city. In the past I may have stressed out or gotten frustrated/worried. With the freedom to go wherever I want, a wrong turn ended up being a new discovery...I felt very zen about the trip ;)

Auckland Domain

I got back to my hotel, cleaned up and headed out for some errands and dinner. I figured out how to get a cheap prepaid phone at what is equivalent to our Big Lots, so that was a success. I had a nice tappas dinner al fresco in an area near my hotel called Vulcan Lane, and then headed back to crash. Day Two - check!