Too few days in NZ and then too many

After our reunification at Auckland airport we arrived at a city where we had no idea what to do and of course no accommodation. We took the airport shuttle to down-town (which costs more than living two days in Bolivia) and soon decided that this city center, which is neither nice nor ugly but rather sterile, was definitely not the aim of our journey. The program we created for our 3 days here started with the best thing you can do on your first evening in New Zealand: going to a rugby match at the legendary Eden Park Stadium! We were lucky to see the opening match of the “Super XV” season (with teams from NZ, Australia and South-Africa) between the best team from the north island, the Auckland Blues with Piri Weepu, and the best team from the south island, Israel Dagg and Dan Carter’s (the one and only man) Canterbury Crusaders. With more than 40 000 spectators (approx. 80% of the stadium was full) we experienced a great atmosphere, even though it was quite different from European football – it seemed more like a family excursion to us. Fans from both teams sit together, there is no real fan culture, the speaker has to animate people, visitors are in a good mood but you don’t feel like they would suffer from a defeat of their team. However, maybe this did not happen because the Blues won 34-15. Before the match, we took the advantage of being early and sprinted up to the relatively nearby Mount Eden to enjoy the panoramic view of Auckland.

The same day we also experienced many other German “travellers”: they came to NZ directly after school without any plan what to do, have to work (or even steal) most of the time and are still running out of money, of course because New Zealand is expensive but mainly because they spend a lot on activities like bungee-jumping. The first thing they ask is where they can find (cheap) beer, they cook things even Steve (previously known as Esteffen) would be ashamed of, and the worst thing is that actually they have no things to tell. We felt really old but this time it felt well. However, this whole situation was a good incentive to head to the edge of town to the Fat Cat Traveller’s Hostel which at first sight seemed a bit alternative, but turned out to be one of the best hostels we stayed at so far. It is run ecologically, they plant a lot of vegetables and fruits and the most amazing are the people there – all are interested and interesting (also the Germans who came to NZ directly after school), you can talk and learn a lot, they are considerate, have personality and the hostel had by far, no, by VERY far the prettiest girls!

Moreover, from the hostel it is fairly easy and near to go to the Waitakere Ranges Regional Park, where we did an excursion and saw at least a glimpse of New Zealand’s breathtaking nature. Since it looks a bit like the Odenwald (but with more jungle-like and original forest) we almost felt at home and missed our race bikes. Now we can understand why triathlon is such a big thing here: at the airport’s arrival we were welcomed by an ad for the Auckland half-ironman (which will take place in the next January), you find triathlon on the Kellogg’s Cornflakes and in a normal supermarket you find magazines which contain huge stories about Tony Dodds and Dylan McNeice, who started together with Steve in our triathlon club. Our bikes were not quite as good, Steve’s back brake finished its service relatively soon and later on, while descending with 45 km/h, the front tire found it to be exactly the right moment to burst with a bang …. interesting situation when you just have your front brake left. Luckily, except of an awesome maneuver nothing happened and it gave him the opportunity to test hitch-hiking in NZ, which works fairly well.

Unfortunately we had to leave much too soon, but at least on the way to the airport we met the best bus driver ever. He told us his whole story including 4 years of travelling, a crash of his business, and about his love and family life, from the first date to divorce. Actually he did not know all the way he was supposed to drive but his turning at a super small street in the middle of a residential district caused the applause of the inhabitants and the passengers …. and deservedly so. These would exactly have been the kind of skills we’d needed on our flight to Tonga, but regrettably the pilot (female, by the way) did not dare to land due to tropical storm and strong rain. Instead we head on to Niue (for all of you searching it on the map now, we wish you good luck), refuelled and went back to Auckland. There we spent a night in a typical airport hotel, luxurious but without soul. That’s why we went to the gym like wannabe ghetto body-builders, shocked some Japanese by wearing sunglasses at night, and jumped into the swimming pool after going to the sauna – of course the Finnish way …. and tomorrow we’ll have another flight and hope the best to reach Tonga!

One thought on “Too few days in NZ and then too many

  1. Hi Thomas, hi Steffen, ihr macht auch aus alles etwas. Jede Sekunde wird genutzt, obwohl ein Rugbyspiel bisweilen einschläfernd sein kann und sich insofern zum relaxen eignet. Aber Tonga, da muss man wohl zwangsläufig relaxen… es sei denn, man möchte mit den Haien wettschwimmen. Bei ersteren wünschen wir euch viel Muße… Wir sind noch in Brasilien und machen uns in 5 Tagen auf den Weg nach Costa Rica…
    LG Arno + Gitti