Auckland, New Zealand

"Auckland is a shithole" Jonathan

After 24 hours spent at the Guangzhou airport I finally managed to board the flight to Auckland which involved changing details on my New Zealand's Nzeta visa as apparently I put in wrong point of entry (I never been asked about that while filling in the form but hey).

During the flight I sat next to New Zealander Jonathan living with his Dutch girlfriend Anna in Netherlands and coming back for his brother's wedding on one of the islands surrounding Auckland, when asked what food he would recommend me he said that NZ being a young nation doesn't have that much of a culinary tradition and I should probably stick with having barbeques whenever possible.

First challenge after we landed wasn't as I was expecting finalizing the visa, that took only few minutes and a nice chat with the border control officer followed by a simple stamp in the passport. The problem was a baggage check as you are not allowed to bring certain fruits, vegetables, plants, animal products, honey and bee products, flowers and seeds, used outdoor equipment to the country, and the list goes on. I wasn't aware about any of this and the "used outdoor equipment" section got me particularly worried as I was bringing along pretty much my entire set up from the PCT hike.

As you can see, border control in New Zealand is a bit tricky, you get through the passport check and pick up your bag fairly quickly which in most of other countries would result in you leaving the airport but here you join the massive queue of EVERYBODY flying in to the country, it splits into two sections: people having nothing to declare (items listed above) or having something to declare. Now unless you are happy to throw all your food items which Jonathan and Anna promptly did after recieving their bags, you are unfortunately stuck in the second category. The check wasn't as meticulous as I was expecting, people were jumping the lines back and forth and I'm sure a couple have snuck in without declaring a snickers or two. I decided to declare all the "suspicious" items I was carrying and got directed to gate number 4 where a nice gentlemen opened my backpack and went through the contents. I had to leave behind a pack of cured pork "kabanosy", managed to save two chicken liver patties after reading out loud all the ingredients, I had to show the soles of the hiking shoes but luckily they were new, and got my tent send to the lab, it came back after ten minutes with no issues. After that I was free to go.

From the airport I took three local buses to reach my final destination but I should have taken a single one to "Sky City" which is the main bus station it was right next to the hostel I booked for the next two nights "Silver Fern Backpackers", a cheep and cheerful describes it best. Here's one of its reviews from a Croatian traveller that made me book it in the first place:

"I recently had the misfortune of staying at Silver Fern, and I can honestly say it was one of the most horrific experiences of my life. I've heard people say that homeless shelters are nicer than some of the hostels, and after my stay here, I can confirm that sentiment."

Well let me just say that for the price of £13 you get a bed with clean sheets, the roof is not leaking and there IS a shower - what else would you expect for the price? I'm planning to leave Silver Fern a much better review, it's teeming with life of all shapes and forms, it smells vibrantly and it's close to the city's main travelling hub, result!

As for Auckland itself, it looks like a "city in progress" to me, there's a lot of building sites around the areas I've seen. You got your regular pubs and restaurants, can take a bus tour to Hobbiton or a ferry trip around the islands surrounding the city. Auckland sounds like Tracy Chapman, Joan Osborne and Norah Jones if that helps you picture it better.

Discovering Auckland was never my plan I treated it as a stopover to get few remaining pieces for the hike: a gas canister, lighter, local SIM card (I went with Spark as it had 3 months deal) and a charger all of which I managed to get without a problem. The one and only social thing I did was attending the Anglican mass in St Matthew in-the-City on Sunday, church had two security guards outside protecting it from noticeable amount of crackheads scattered around the street, highlight of the mass was saying "Our Father" in Maori language (there was couple of Maori songs and prayers during the mass which was really nice).

I had a walk in the dock area, let go of the idea of going up the Sky Tower (higher than Eiffel Tower!) as it cost $44, you could also bungee jump from the side of it for $180 or "freedom walk" on top of it (harnessed of course) for just over $200. I had a fairly horrible cheeseburger in Macca's (it's how they call McDonalds here), pretty good fish and chips (or "hoki") and a chicken frankfurter roll for breakfast. Topped up my food supplies in one of the three main supermarket chains in New Zealand called Countdown and spent rest of the time ridding myself of the jetlag in bed, which was problematic as "being quiet" after 10pm seemed to be a foreign concept for the inhabitants and so I had two of them, completely drunk discussing a wedding attire by the side of my bed, lights fully blasting, just before midnight - they said sorry though.

Monday, 20th of November, 7:00 am

My bus to Kaitaia has arrived and it's time to start making my way towards Cape Rienga, farewell Auckland it has been a pleasure.