Auckland – Arrival in the Land of Hobbits

The excitement rises

Now we are in the Land of Elves and Dwarves. We did not expect to be attacked by a horde orcs with swinging swords immediately, but we felt a little excited when we approached the customs. On our Patagonia tour we were briefed for the entry by our New Zealand crewmembers and so we preferred to tick the box „yes – we have something“ once more on the import list. We were allowed to leave the airport without any abnormalities in the direction of our AirBnB ’s after an exhaustive examination of our luggage.

Itchy Feet Insider tip: Let your luggage be checked rather thoroughly. If something like an apple is found afterwards, then it will cost at least 400 NZD or more.

„Let’s hunt some Orc!“
– Aragorn –

Itchy Feet Insider tip: Clean your hiking boots and poles, the New Zealand customs can be very picky here!

After we had set ourselves with Peter, our AirBnB host, we headed towards the city directly. Since we wanted to spend the coming weeks in the tent, we had to stock up with suitable equipment. In addition, we wanted to get rid of excess baggage and gave an 8 kg package to the post office and sent it to our departure airport Queenstown.

Itchy Feet Insider tip: The NZ Post Service delivers packages on your behalf to postal stations and keep them for you up to 2 months.

Then our camping equipment was complete and we started to explore the city. We strolled to the harbor with its large and expensive yachts, people watched as she strolled relaxed about the port promenade and enjoyed the sun on one of the many lies. Before we headed back home, we stumbled across the little sweet restaurant „Le Chef“. Here we enjoyed fresh seafood pasta with summer vegetables and we ordered the chocolate cake with ice cream and fruits when this was brought to our neighboring table. Heavenly! :)

Before it should go straight on the next day, we started the morning a little later with a quick breakfast and explored further Auckland. We climbed Mt. Eden and had a great 360° view of the city. Here was impressively clear that Auckland was built on a volcanic field. It piled up a total of 53 volcanoes rising from the cityscape. It is good that these volcanoes have gone out, otherwise Auckland could become a hot issue eventually. ; )
In the evening we could finish with a Mexican dinner at the „In“ neighborhood Ponsonby. After a mouth-watering food and 2 liters of delicious Sangria we slipped into our cozy bed and looked forward to the coming weeks in New Zealand.

As most of you probably do not know, we had the plan to explore New Zealand without a car and without public transport. So it should happen that Andi would have his first Hitchhiking experience. Thus, the excitement, however, should not get out of hand, we strengthened ourselves in the Cafe „Peel to Pid“ with a stunning breakfast. We rarely left a café with a bigger smile than after our morning at this wonderful place. If you once should be in Auckland, then go in the Metro or in your car and drive to this cafe! :)

Salute from here and now,
Tina and Andi from Itchy Feet