The following day we had to say goodbye to Simon and Beata since we had planned for an extra week in New Zealand than they had. We drove them to the airport and then had to find ACE, our car rental company since we were trading our station wagon in for a smaller cheaper car. Though they claimed to be at Christchurch airport they are actually a bit away and after asking around I got directions to them. They are a pain in the ass company, but if you don’t breakdown they are the cheapest in NZ. We opted for no GPS this time since it was not only useless, but caused a lot of expensive agony and stress.

Giant Sand Fly

Then we were off through Arthur’s Pass again. The weather was clear this time from the beginning so we were able to see the gorgeous views that we had missed the first time. We spent the night in Greymouth, where we had planed on going adventure caving the following day.

It was an early 6:30 start for us the following morning. It was cloudy and while watching National Treasure on the ferry it began to rain. As we approached Picton we passed by the Marlborough Sounds, but it was too cold and rainy to stay outside for long so we couldn’t enjoy the view. We were disappointed since it was supposed to be beautiful and the ferry was like a cruise through the sounds but we didn’t get anything out of it. We had to decide what to do and looked at a brochure map, and the distances were unreal. Places that did not seem that far away the map said 5 hour drive. I couldn’t believe it, but we were in a bit of a panic since we’d have to cut out something from our trip.

Marlborough Sounds

When we arrived to Picton and stopped by the info center, we were given a better map with more believable travel times, so we were a bit relieved but not by much since it was still longer than we expected. Since the weather was so bad and Picton looked like a shabby town we decided to book it to Arthur’s Pass. It was drizzling and cloudy the whole way to Springfield, the beginning of the pass and as we reached the top of the first mountain ridge the sky opened and the sun shown and suddenly Arthur’s Pass was gorgeous and our moods had instantly lifted.  The countryside reminded me of Scotland, and New Zealand is called the Southern Scotland and there are also many Scottish immigrants.

Arthur's Pass

We stayed in a cabin in Arthur’s Pass which also had a Jacuzzi so before a makeshift Thanksgiving dinner without turkey or pumpkin pie went to the Jacuzzi. I couldn’t stay too long because of sand flies which swarmed and bit. They are something like mosquitoes but at least they don’t bite as much but when they do the bites stay for a long time. That was our first encounter with sand flies and unfortunately it wasn’t nearly the last.

Arthur's Pass

This morning was rough, since the remnants of the wine were not making me or anyone else feel well.We planned on going to Rangitoto so even though I was not looking forward to a hike, we went.We had to take a Ferry to the island and I was curious to see the wharf considering how lovely Sydney’s Ferry wharf was, but I was very disappointed.Plainly, it was a dirty harbour not worth a mention.It was just a place like a bus stop to get on a boat, and fast because there weren’t even any benches to sit on.Auckland was soon becoming an ugly city.

Rangitoto was an inactive volcano from which there were really nice views of Auckland.The climb up would actually not be so bad, but I was feeling miserable so it was close to torture.At the top the crater was less than spectacular and when going through our photos later I was like, “what is that?” because I couldn’t imagine why on earth we had taken a picture of something so dull, and that was the crater.But luckily the highlight was not the crater but the view which was lovely.Auckland can be ugly but New Zealand is all about the nature.The clear blue water and gracefully curved carved islands around the city are gorgeous, and from the distance even Auckland looked pretty.

Going down was much easier than going up and back at shore we had sushi for lunch and then had to prepare for the Belgian party.Everyone was from Belgium and Lissa planned a Belgian party for her friends who had just flown across the globe to get away from Belgium complete with beer and waffles.Hendrik and I were really excited since we have had pretty shit beer in Australia the past year.It was fun and in two days we had already had a wine night and a beer night, so a hard alcohol night was surly in order.

Hendrik and I went on vacation to New Zealand or Aotearoa (land of the long white cloud) in Māori.  We took the bus from the airport to centre city, and the first thing that stuck out in the outskirts of town were cows on a hill. It was a pretty steep hill and it was a curiosity that the cows didn’t just fall off, but they looked as agile as mountain goats grazing on the steep hill. Once we entered the city I hardly knew we were near centre since it seemed like suburbs all the way to Queen St. then when we were on Queen St I saw a Wendy’s, which I pointed out to Hendrik since they don’t have Wendy’s in Australia or Europe so it was odd that it was here. Auckland was the only place I saw a Wendy’s and there was only one. Right next to it was an Oporto, a few steps down was a McDonalds, and then a Burger King, all on one block a few paces away. In all I counted about 5 Burger Kings (which were called Burger King and not Hungry Jack, like in AU) on Queen St alone not to mention all the other burger places and Queen St. really isn’t that long. In conclusion I figured that the Kiwis must really love their burgers and needed the grazing cows to fulfil this need.

We stayed at Hendrik’s friend’s apartment who lived smack in the centre city, and she complained that the nearest grocery store was quite far, but at least she was always only 5 steps away from a burger so she never had to fear starvation. She told us to get off the bus at the giant Santa Clause, that we couldn’t miss him. We were sceptical, but really you can’t miss him. He was huge and creepy. Not only did he look like someone you wouldn’t let your children near he also has one automated finger which moved in a beckoning fashion. Whoever thought that was a good idea for Santa had some issues, but Lissa, our friend assured us he’s there every year.

Then I met Hendrik’s other friends Beata and Simon who would also be travelling with us and we had a wine night. Definitely a bit too much. What we did see of Auckland we came to a one word conclusion, underwhelming. It was way smaller than I thought it would be and nothing that would stand out and be the landmark for the city except for the Santa and possibly burgers. Then of course there is the sky tower which is the most prominent building of the city, but we decided not to go to the top to save money. I didn’t mind because it seemed that the tower was the only building worth looking at anyway. Lissa decided to take us to her office building where she claimed to have great views but as we stood by the door she had forgotten to take her keys, so we had to postpone and wait in anticipation to gaze at the Auckland Skyline.

Wine night in a red bar.