10 Days in Auckland, and Northland

Arrival

After a 35 hour Journey having left on Saturday Afternoon from London Heathrow. at 16:50 and then arriving Monday Morning at Auckland International.

Going through customs just so happened to be very easy compared to what I was expecting especially entering as a foreign national on a working holiday visa. Passport control all electronic as standard, thankfully able to enter on my UK passport instead of getting grilled by an officer. It took a lifetime for my bags to appear off of that never ending soul sucking baggage carousel. Little did I know I had one more barrier to pass before entering the land of Kiwis. Baggage Security. With my Travelers declaration in hand, I braved what I thought would be a daunting experience. I was wrong. Everyone over here is very relaxed, and super helpful. Put my bags through their x-ray machines and prayed they wouldn't ask for evidence of prescription for my TXA, which I use to treat severe menstrual pain. Unfortunately for my Border Control series obsessed Dad, and overactive aunt, I had no issues.

Through the doors and into my newly found freedom, I was greeted by my driver, James, from Cobb & Co Coaches and Transfers.

Luckily for me driving on the normal, sorry, left side, is no different to what I am already used to. However, James' driving was not.... I don't have enough fingers on my hands to count the times we nearly ended up in the back of another vehicle.

If you had read my earlier post from last week's sum up, you'll know all about my troubles with the hostel. From grim entrances, to not being able to check in, and sharing a very small room compared to everyone else.

My first bite of eating none-aeroplane food was a beautiful sausage roll from [place], just right around the corner in a Food court. I had called home to let them know I had arrived and made it through customs. I hadn't bothered with dinner as I was so tired, and feeling rough. I think I went to bed around 8pm that night if not earlier.

Sight-Seeing Tour

Wakey-wakey Rise and Shine, it was time for my first activity of the day at 8:35am. After waking up at about 6am, I was ready and raring to go. Tai and I met in the common and headed down to a little café called [place] for a quick brekkie.

We were joking about how we fully expected the bus not to turn up or for us to be apparently told the wrong day or time or even place... 10 minutes pass from our pick up time and we begin to wonder if this so-called tour bus will actually turn up. Fortunately, it did. We just weren't informed by our arrival coordinator what we should do or how long we should give before giving up.

Our initial tour was just sight seeing around Auckland, but we were told at the start there was an option to join a later tour for more going into the rainforest and exploring nature as well. Of course we all decided to do that and believe me we did not regret it.

Rangitoto Island

Day 2 of the package included a tour to Rangitoto Island, otherwise known as New Zealands youngest Volcano. One of our friends had left that day to go to Christchurch, where I would eventually be joining her at work. Lucas certainly pushed me to climb up Rangitoto, and we still managed to do it in the 1 hour stated on the board at the bottom. Even with all the stops I had to make to catch my breath.

I have two things to take away from Rangitoto...

1. Don't wear trainers to go up Volcanoes. Your ankles won't forgive you.

2. Find somewhere safe to keep your heavy belongings. Don't drag it around with you like I did.

Auckland Bridge Climb

Anyone that knew me when I was younger would know I was deathly afraid of heights. Many years later, not much has changed. However, I challenged myself to do the Bridge Climb and Sky Tower Walk. If you have read my post Mugged-Off Monkeys, you would know that I was meant to be doing this with someone else, but due to lack of communications meant he didn't get the memo. So, I was very privileged to enjoy a private tour with two lovely guides.

Standing at 62m above water level at its highest point, and accompanied by New Zealand's only ocean touch bungy jump, is Auckland Bridge. Both activities run by AJ Hackett's Bungy. The team are absolute wonders and full of so much local knowledge and made what could have been a very awkward toward, really enjoyable.

SkyTower Walk and Pass

Impressively standing at 328m (highest point) above ground is Auckland's Sky Tower, celebrating it's 25th Birthday. The Walk is conducted at 192m above ground and operates a bungy from the same height. My fear of heights certainly kicked in, as you can see in the photo we are strapped in using a double harness and not a safety railing in sight.

Again the team were amazing, and I nearly had someone to go and do it with. However Tom had a stronger fear of heights than I did. But like I said in my previous blog, we will forgive him as he did buy me cake afterwards.

Chini was a brilliant tour guide and has my total respect for her. She accepted if we weren't comfortable doing something. You can see this demonstrated in one of the video uploads of the Sky Tower Walk where she asks if I want to try something and I just back out of it, she never pressured me or anyone into doing anything they didn't want to do. Because of that I was able to do the tasks later on, she had my trust. I now have my favourite photo from the whole holiday.

Beach Hopping FriYay! - French Bay Beach, Titirangi Beach

Friday meant it was time to depart the hostel and move onto my next location, I had booked myself into a nice resort about half-an-hour away from Auckland. Checking out at 10am meant I had time to kill before checking in, so I did a quick look on google maps and found a place called French Bay Beach. Picked up my rental car, a lovely red Mitsubishi Outlander, and headed off. A very quaint little beach that would be a perfect destination in the Summer, just bring a picnic with you as the shops are a 5 minute drive back into Titirangi. The Mill House Bakery comes highly recommended for their pies from locals and internationals.

A little bit further along is Titirangi Beach Nature Reserve, the ideal outing for more family like groups accompanied by a play park up near the car park. I didn't explore much over in Titirangi Beach, as I needed to head on to my hotel, mainly so I could just take the time to relax and type away for my blog without bashing my head on the bed above me.

McLachlan Monument

A monument stood at the end of a gravel road and grass track further up to record the arrival of the Ship "Brilliant" in the Manukau Harbour on the 29th October 1841. The Cornwallis Estate was managed by Lachlan McLachlan the father of the donor of the park John Mitchell McLachlan. This monument had beautiful 360 degree lookout points.

Huia Point Lookout

Another gem, with amazing views, although I did have to wait for a noisy family of four to leave before getting some stunning photos. Annoyingly interrupted by an urgent need to wee. Before anyone asks, no I did not pee in a bush, I went to a loo like a normal person. Although a bush might have been more sanitary than a public loo.

Waitakere Resort & Spa

Rest, relaxation, and a bit of peace, or so I thought. After settling in, having dinner and my R&R, sleep is what I was looking most forward to. Unluckily some prick, decided it would be acceptable to smoke in their room at 4 o'clock in the morning and wake up the entire hotel by setting off the fire alarms. I was not impressed but also had the very British reaction of "oh its a fire alarm" *does nothing*, fire alarm keeps going, "fuck sake" *walks out of room to assembly point in nothing but Piggy's and my phone in my hand. Luckily we weren't kept too long as we were reassured by the duty manager that there was no fire and that we could go back to bed. I was informed by others that the alarm had been going for about 15 minutes.

Aside from that, their service was disappointing, during dinner, aside from the start where each customer was attended to quickly, along came my mains, I had decided to go for duck as it was one of my favourite poultry to have. I noticed about 1/4 way through the meal my duck was, chewy than normal, what I thought would be a simple task of finding my server and asking chef to cook it a little more was tedious and took longer than necessary. At which point most of my food was going cold, I decided to continue. Eventually, my server turned up and asked how everything was, I told him the duck was chewy, and he offered to get the chef to cook it some more. I simply just told him not to worry as I was nearly finished anyways. I finished off the rest, annoyed that the server had come so late to fix something so simple. Breakfast service was even worse, I got point blank ignored by the server to let him know I was here, I had to as breakfast was included on my package, a couple in front of me got acknowledged... still ignored. Once they eventually came over to take my order, it took 25 - 30 minutes for a very simple order of French Toast no banana's and I specified to make sure they let the chef know it is an allergy. I was disappointed to see people who had come in after me getting their food first.

Would definitely recommend staying, but find somewhere else for dinner and breakfast if you want to actually be served properly.

Whangarei Falls

A little pit stop on my 3 and a bit hour journey up to the Bay of Islands, Whangarei Falls. A perfect waterfall picnic stop for anyone thinking about it. Just watch out as it seems to be a place likely to get pick-pocketed or belongings stolen from your vehicle.

Bay of Islands

I've decided I definitely need to return in Summer, as there wasn't much for me to do upon arriving. Awestruck by the area's beauty I can understand why Bay of Islands is a must visit for tourists and Kiwi's alike. On my next holiday up North, you will be sure to find me here exploring the Islands.

Cape Reinga

I chose the wrong day to visit Cape Reinga... rain, rain, rain as soon as I arrived. Cloud covered skies, and wind filling my eyes with water. I came up to Cape Reinga to see the Tasman Sea meet the Pacific Ocean. It's not very impressive in dark grey weather, it may be a bit different when its Sunny and Bright but it will be a long while before I am at the most Northerly point of North Island.

The Heads Hokianga

Again another beautiful place to view, and home to the cultural centre of Manea Footprints of Kupe. I was going to visit but backed out in the end, feeling awkward going in by myself. The rolling waves coming in from the Tasman Sea, and the massive sand dunes are not a sight to miss.

Ripiro Beach

A quick little pit stop down to Ripiro Beach, gave dramatic views and dramatic weather. I don't have much to say about the place as I didn't stay long, not because I didn't want to, but the weather started raining as soon as I arrived. There is only so much madness I can give.

Mangawhai Heads

My last and final stop in Mangawhai Heads, I came out onto the beach for a nice 20 minute stroll taking photos enjoying my last moments of being a tourist, and then sat in my car for a few hours just chilling, vibing with the weather and the views. Out at sea I could see what are called The Hen and Chicken Island's named by James Cook. It was only later I discovered that what I was looking at was an Island and not a gigantic rock, as google kept telling me.

Summary

If I had any friends with me on the road trip, I probably would have found that I did a bit more activities that I wanted to do or stayed a bit longer in places. As a solo traveler, I made decisions based on my gut and where felt safe for me to be, which did include on my final night checking out of a hotel that gave me the worst bad gut feeling I had for a while.

Tips for solo-traveler's:

1. Trust Your Gut. Your gut is your bestfriend when you're by yourself.

2. Rent a comfy car/van. Especially if you are driving a long way.

3. Keep in contact with relatives/friends let them know what you are doing where you are going. Even if they are 12 hours behind, send a text so someone has a record in case anything goes wrong.