A new trip is dawning on 18th Oct, and at this rate I don't think I'll ever finish blogging in details about North Island.
But here is what I remember, from the heart.
Auckland, the heart of the city is sloped in like a crater.
It was a place where I saw homeless people really actually sleeping on sidewalks and for the first time in my trip I was wary of people.
The Explorer Bus was a fast way to go about quite a few places.
Mount Eden had a really beautiful view. I enjoyed detouring into an unbeaten path on my way back down despite being slightly anxious that I was lost. Then it was off to Westfield shopping center for some stocking of food. I had my Grain Waves!
Then there was some time to go to the Winter garden Pavilion where I got a chance to take those macro flower shots that I love.
The next two days was off to the tours.
The little town of Paihia had a super quaint tiny cottage that was converted into a library.
I enjoyed my time in Paihia, where we went to get on the boat for the Bays of Islands tour.
And going through the Hole in the Rock was an exciting boat ride because of how the waves was so much scarier in the Hole.
The Hobbiton movie set tour was lovely, being it was actually filmed on a huge farm.
All the little Hobbit houses, which were actually just front doors that opened up to little more than closet space. And visiting the Green Dragon pub where there was a cat that's been around since the first movie.
Before I headed to Auckland, my brother mentioned he has a friend that owns a yacht there.
Going on the Explorer Bus the first day in Auckland and seeing all the yachts in their harbor,
just made me even more wanting to go on a yacht.
So I insisted that my brother ask his friend if I can go sailing with his friend on his private yacht the one weekend I had there. Yeah, with like, a total stranger for me at that point!
I GOT THE CHANCE AND I ENJOYED MYSELF TREMENDOUSLY!
I was pretty much lovingly called a 'menace', accidentally dropping a barnacle down a tiny deep slot on the yacht and also leaving the steering wheel unattended to get my hand phone, thus making the yacht spin for quite a bit out in the waters. There was no time for packing a proper lunch, so the whole day was spent eating junk food that was on the yacht and drinking. Oh yes, they were so casual about it that I had my good share of coke and rum as well as some white wine.
We even had the sea police dropped by, because we went off the yacht to take a walk one of the smaller islands and left the sails up, which was a total no-no for any anchored yacht.
The last day was spent at the Art Gallery, where I bought my first small reprint of a painting.
A delightful little cemetery piece.
Then after that meeting Stephen again for a tour of the harbor and learning the history of the American Cup.
Auckland was also where I bought Citrus on my last hour there while waiting for the bus to the airport. =)
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