Jun 18 - In and around Auckland

Yeah, I thought about it last night and decided to stay a chicken, I have way too much to cover in next coming weeks then to have a malfunction and lie as plastered fly on the ground going bungee jumping, so I have officially decided to skip my jump. Now that has been settled, Neeraj and Trish had planned a full day for me in and around Auckland.

We started the day by going to One Tree Hill which was landmark in New Zealand for folks to come and see single tree on the hill, till one day an angry man went and chopped down the 125 old tree, since then there has been a debate to plant a new native tree on the hill. Remember U2 had a song “One Tree Hill” well that was written for written to commemorate the death of  their New Zealander band member who died in a motorcycle accident. Once we got on the hill got a spectacular view of the city, but man was it windy, I almost lost my beloved “Goofy” hat on the hill.  As it was in Dublin the weather here in Auckland changes every 5 min, so after getting some great views from the top, we were also greeted with some showers so decided to make our way to Victoria Park Market to pick up some souvenirs (fridge magnets). Can’t have a trip to any city completed till I have added to my collection. From there it was off to my highlight of the trip to “Eden Park” theground where Inzy had a real coming out party in the 1992 World Cup Semi-Final between Pakistan vs. New Zealand. We almost ended there the first night I was here to watch my first live rugby test match between the All Blacks vs. Ireland, but the weather was so miserable that Neeraj and I decided to stay in-doors.

Next stop was a trip to the west coast of New Zealand, towards Arataki. This is one of the national parks in New Zealand which is still left untouched where people can still go and hike and experience the real nature. One interesting thing which I did find out is there are no snakes in New Zealand, so in a way hiking and camping cannot be made much easier for folks. We had our afternoon snack here, before heading back to town and one last stop of the day was the mosque in Auckland, “Masjid Umar” which is conveniently located across all the Halal stores in Auckland. We had a full day, Neeraj’s kids “Neha and Nikhil” were getting tired so we decided to head home. I had a full day and was really happy with coverage I was able to make considering we got some showers along the whole day.

In the evening it was the boyz night out to Nandos (all of them in Auckland are Halal…amazing) and by watching MI3. All in all a great day in Auckalnd, tomorrow I off to Rotorua and glow worm caves, so till then --- Haerera (Goodbye in Maori)