A few pleasant days were spent in the big city helping with an education abroad orientation of which I was a student in a past year. Aside from the near constant deja vu and realization that I am not as young as I used to be, it was a great experience and I was glad to be able to help. Fortunately, I had a good amount of free time to explore the City of Sails. I spent half a day on Rangitoto Island, a 600 year old volcanic island just offshore. As soil development is still limited, vegetation has yet to fully overtake the island's fresh black volcanic scoria. I walked to the top for commanding views of Auckland, the Hauraki Gulf and its islands and explored some of the lava tube caves on the island. The last day I went to Tirtiri Matangi Island where I saw an abundance of rare native birds and went for a delightful swim through sea caves in the warm, near-tropical waters. I also jumped about 10m from a rock arch.
I am not, and don't expect to ever be, a city person. That said Auckland is one of the nicer cities I have been in. I found a little more than half of the population to be wonderfully friendly and helpful. Unfortunately the other half was equally indifferent, rude or self-focused. Nevertheless, the diversity of peoples was refreshing.
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| City of Sails |
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| Lava tube cave |
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Auckland from Rangitoto Island
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