The art of building – with the existing nails…
We have a one-year visa to Australia, with the condition that we may stay in the country for a maximum of 90 days at a time. It is a consequence of all the bureaucratic mess that the trip started with. We therefore have to find another place to visit for a few days - the choice has fallen on New Zealand.
The plane ticket was bought at the last minute, as New Zealand has just been hit by a cyclone and caused major flooding.
In the airport itself, for example, there was water up to a height of half a metre. So we wanted to see if it was even possible to get over there. Fortunately, it could. In the course of a week, everything has been well under control again.
We were a bit pressured by the fact that virtually all rental cars are rented out. Completely sold out. But we are getting a Toyota campervan in Auckland.
A general trend that we unfortunately notice in the hunt for a car is that a lot of people use scams to lure you into their business. After trying to rent several cars, where you used bait & switch, there is one lessor who does not triple the price, but is content to "just" put 30% on top. It somewhat follows the usual pattern - the first car we rent , is suddenly not available anyway.
But he has another that we can get instead. It's a little cheaper, so that's fine. We book it, but VUPTI increases the price. Even though it is the man's own company, he was "wrong". We are really not happy with this kind of sales method - but have no other options. Actually, we were supposed to have the car for all 3 weeks that we are in New Zealand, but now we can only get it for the last 2 weeks of the trip.
Well… What do we do now?
We are trying to look into some hotel accommodation, but it is quite expensive. We are talking about a minimum of DKK 2,000 per day. It's way over our budget, for a whole week.
A general trend - is that New Zealand lives high on their location and lack of competition. If you want to come here - you have to pay as much as possible.
North of Auckland we find an AirBnB room in a house that is rented out for DKK 2000 per week. We'll grab that. The host is nice and it is clean and nice. Definitely worth the money. But a little awkward, living in a stranger's house. That's the price you have to pay.
Now we are in a suburb of Auckland without a car... so we have to investigate how public transport works. We must have a card - a bit like the travel card. After a long walk, we reach the point of sale 10 minutes into closing time and from here our journey starts to look a little more realistic.
With a well-functioning bus, it goes into Auckland Centre. We walk around the town and down by the harbor we find a maritime museum that we want to visit. With tales of the maritime history and the way of life of the Maori, they have outrigger canoes, explorers and life as it developed in complete dependence on the sea route to carry heavy goods forward.
Among the many objects there is also the original anchor from HMS Bounty, for example. The famous mutiny story against the stern Captain Bligh has not many physical traces left, as the mutineers burned the ship. But the anchor is on display in New Zealand. Quite cozy and exciting place.
With its 328m, the large Sky Tower is quite easy to spot. For daredevils, there is a SkyJump from one of the upper floors. The price is DKK 1000 for 11 seconds of controlled fall towards the ground.
We content ourselves with going up to floor 51 and looking out over the city. At the same time, there is an opportunity to photograph those who take the fast outside route down.
Outlying Auckland does not offer the completely wild landscape or urban experiences without a car, so we grab the bus once again. Easy, cheap and a new bus with 10 minute intervals.
Auckland War Memorial Museum, in the name there is an indication of the contents, but it also turns out to contain dinosaurs, stuffed animals, Maori culture, Stonehenge in England, volcanoes, photo exhibitions about the South Island and natural science in addition. Actually a small national museum.
Even Edmund Hillary's ice ax which he used on the first ascent of Mount Everest in 1953 has found its way into the collection.
After a number of good hours in the company of learning, we can hear a juicy steak calling us, with a clear and distinct voice - down by the harbor front. As we walk the 3km down to the harbour, the flow of people gets stronger. It's heading towards the weekend and the waterfront is where the city life is.
When the sun goes down, lights are switched on at the Sky Tower and the waterfront also lights up. It's Friday night - happy people - good atmosphere and loud music. The steak was good in a fine restaurant and we have the opportunity to shoot a few more pictures of city life.
Now we look forward to getting our car on Sunday morning so we can get out and experience some more. Auckland is on the North Island and we would also like to see the South Island, but the ferries are sold out. Despite many daily departures, it is not possible for us to bring the car to the south island.
OK – now we'll give the north island a shot and see what experiences it can conjure up over the next two weeks.
