chilling out in Auckland

After spending the weekend at the bach, I took a couple of trips into Auckland city and around the area with my aunt and cousins to do some touristy stuff. We checked out One Tree Hill (the name is misleading, there used to be one tree which was significant to the Maroi, then a few trees planted in it's place by European settlers, then one - then zero when a Maori chainsawed it down in a belated act of revenge), Mount Eden, which has a massive (possibly mined?) crater in the middle, and some Maori stonefields where they used to live and build oven, caves and storage areas from the volcanic rock there. We collected some avocados off the trees in the public orchard on that excursion. While it probably shouldn't, given the temperatures, it amazes me the stuff that grows here: peppers and abundant lettuce in my Auckland aunt's garden, lemons and peaches at my other aunt's place in the countryside, NZ melons, blueberries and countless other fruit that I'd avoid buying due to air miles in the UK laid out in the fruit&veg shops).

We took a couple of short hikes around the area too, up through a golf course to the coast opposite Brown Island, with fantastic views across the water to the islands which dot the bay near Auckland; along the estuary; and up Pigeon Mountain (which is less mountainous than the name insists) on a gorgeous, cool evening. The views, the blueness of the sea and the beaches here are impressive enough, and these are nothing, according to my cousins, so I'm looking forward to seeing what else New Zealand has in store!

Me and my cousins also went up the Skycity Tower, the tallest structure in the Southern Hemisphere, one day. It had a lift-ride which would do nothing for any vertigo-sufferers who had braved the trip - the floor of the cabin had a glass panel in the floor, allowing those riding upwards to see the floor of the lift shaft receding further and further away! The viewing decks which circled the tower also had some 38mm glass panels embedded in the floor, allowing those who had confidence in engineering and physics to stand and gaze ever down to the ground far below [I took the leap/step, naturally - see picture]. Auckland's a nothing-special city (does anyone really come to NZ for the cities?), but it's close to the beach and some pretty awesome scenery, and AC/DC played here last night, so it can't be all bad!

written by  LizIsHere on February 5, 2010 from Auckland, New Zealand
from the travel blog: New Zealand & Australia 2010
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