You'll Never Walk Alone

Sunday, June 08, 2008 . 2:58 PM

NZ Travel Diary Day 1

I'm back from NZ (been back since the 3rd of June) and gonna start a segment of the diary I kept in the 15 days I had there... Apologies for the sucky photos from the first few days and the lack of photos in the last few. Haha... No mood and/or inspiration.

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Day 1, 19/05/2008

Touched down at NZ Auckland airport at 1045 after a gruelling 10 hour flight across South East Asia and Australia. The flight as relatively all right, minor turbulence here and there, but it was mostly OK. Watched National Treasure 2 on the plane and listened to a few songs from KrisWorld before deciding to switch to my iPod and sleep. The newer SQ planes now have cream colours for the seat covers... Giving it a somewhat more... "High-class" less nauseating look, unlike the blue and purple ones of yesteryear. KrisWorld has also changed quite a bit, with improvements both in content and interface, but sadly still as lag as ever.

After we touched down we took a shuttle minibus to our backpacker's lodge. The minibus service functions in a rather interesting manner; it consists of a minibus with a wagon attached behind; the people go in the bus, the luggage goes in the wagon. The driver packs as many people as he can into the bus, then sends them to all their destinations via the shortest route possible. New Zealanders are really friendly, and are very easy to make light conversation with. We didn't really feel very much estranged at all.

We reached Verandah Backpacker's Lodge at 1310, and had to wait till 1400 cos the receptionist was away for lunch. At least we could hang out in the lounge, out of the cold. After being given our room keys and a tour of the hostel, we headed out to the city centre for food. Our first stop was the Intercity Coach Terminal, where we had to settle a booking for one of our coaches later on in our journey. We then found a small imitation of Subway, but at NZ$5 for a 6-inch sub with a canned drink, was quite a bargain. After lunch, Celeste suggested that we visit Parnell Road to see the more... Traditional sights of Auckland. I guess. However, after boarding the bus (in the wrong direction as well O_O), we were all so tired we fell asleep.

Halfway through the journey, we woke up and got off at New Market, deciding that we had had enough of the ultra long bus ride (if we had gone in the OPPOSITE direction, would've been much quicker lol). The girls were fascinated by the shops in the area, and we made our way to Parnell Road on foot, visiting several shops on the way. One quite remarkable thing about NZ is their car license plates: with "GOD IS 1", "MOJO", "TIGER" and "TENNIS", there was no lack of entertainment as we walked past cars with unique plates.

On the way to Parnell Road, we passed by a church that was in a rather nice setting and had great lighting, so we stopped to take a few photos.

After walking some more, we reached Parnell Road and visited Parnell Village. It was a throwback to another era, with the old buildings and architecture.

We then continued on foot to the Sky City Tower, where we had dinner at a nearby Chinese restaurant, before going up the tower. The view is similar to the towers in China and Australia, so for NZ$18 we felt a bit cheated... But of well. We got to go up a 328m tall building, looking at a view of the city from 220m up... I guess that's quite fascinating :) Photos aren't fantastic cos of the reflections in the windows (my cam can't help but pick them up... guess it's a really good cam), but we could see the Auckland Harbour Bridge from the tower. At night, with all the lights on, the city certainly is a beautiful sight.

After looking at the city from way above, we took the Link bus (same bus, but CORRECT direction this time) back to our hostel, where we made our calls home and took showers, and where I'm currently writing this. We'll be waking up at 0630 tomorrow so that we can catch out 0800 coach at the city centre. Next stop, Waitomo.

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After leaving Auckland I realized that I had forgotten to take a shot of the Sky City Tower at night!!! ARGHHHHH.
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PHOTOS

From left: Archangel, Celeste, Aw Yong, Alvin

Probably the only decent shot I have of the Sky City Tower. Still can't believe that getting a nicer shot (e.g. at night) didn't cross my mind at all.

Harvard is in NZ! And so are Cornell, Stanford...