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! Continue reading →