Compared to London and some other European cities, New Zealand's largest city is clean, pleasant and fairly laid back. There's plenty to do here and it's a good place to shop for outdoor gear which is cheaper than in Europe.
I stayed at the Albert Park Backpackers which was fine the first time I stayed, but the second time I ended up in a huge dorm which stank of a combination of deoderant and body odour. The windows stayed open all the time here! I had tried the Auckland City Backpackers but couldn't get a bed until around midday. The place is huge and seemed a bit disorganised and so I plumped for the Albert Park Backpackers where I got a bed straight away, sharing a small but airy dorm with six others. There's a cafe around the corner which does a breakfast for NZ$5 with a voucher you can pick up from the Albert Park reception. Other travellers have rated the hostels in Parnell and Ponsonby very highly - these places tend to be smaller and more comfortable than the standard city centre hostels and are obviously less central. You take your pick.
One of the first things I did after dumping my pack at the hostel was to take a ferry across to Devonport and have a wander around. From Mount Victoria there are great views of Auckland and the islands of Rangitoto, Motutapu and Waiheke to the east. If coffee is your thing there are plenty of cafes in Devonport. There's also a naval museum which I found interesting. The ferry crossing from the downtown ferry terminal takes about 15 minutes.
A trip up the Sky Tower is worth the NZ$20 admission - you get great views of the city and surrounding area, and if you time it right, some great sunsets. There are even glass panels on which you can stand and take in the view straight down under your feet if you can stomach it!
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| The Sky Tower> | View from the Sky Tower | Auckland from Mt. Victoria in Devonport | Downtown ferry terminal | Means something to me |
The Auckland Explorer bus is a convenient way of exploring the city - NZ$20 buys you a one-day ticket which you can use to hop on and off at various designated stops to explorer the sights at your own pace, you you take public buses and do the same thing for much cheaper but with the hassle of finding out which buses to take. Quite a number of the sights the bus stops at are well worth a look, particularly the Auckland Museum. Mission Bay is a lovely place to chill out, Mount Eden has good views of the city and demonstrates the fact that Auckland is basically built around a number of extinct volcanic cones!
At Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World you can check out the penguins and loads of other sea life as you wander through the perpsex tunnels through the aquarium, watching all sorts of fish swim above you.
A day trip to Rangitoto Island is worth doing, but you'll have to catch the first ferry of the morning to make it worthwhile. The ferry trip takes around 30 minutes. The only thing to do on the island is walk around if you're in a hurry or don't feel like walking, you can always take the tractor train around the island. There are great views from the summit (a 30 minute walk from the wharf), but one thing that strikes you about the place is the mount of vegetation growing, despite the fact that there is no soil! Rangitoto is a volcanic island where everything is just lava. Make sure you wear sturdy footwear (sandals are a bad idea) because the lava is pretty sharp in places, and bring plenty of water as it can get really hot.
An alternative visit to Rangitoto would be to paddle across in a sea kayak. Ferg's Kayaks do a night trip to the island which leaves late in the afternoon and takes in a hike to to the summit where you get great views of the city by night. I tried doing this but found that Thursdays to the weekend were booked out weeks in advance so this is obviously very popular with the locals.
A wander around the upmarket suburbs of Parnell and Ponsonby is worth while - there are some good (if expensive) places to eat. You can walk to Parnell from the city centre in about fifteen minutes by cutting through Albert Park. A short bus ride from the Sky Tower will get you to Ponsonby. You can catch most city buses from the downtown bus teminal where there are helpful staff and bus maps.
There are plenty of places to eat in the city centre and there's a variety of international cuisines to choose from: Japanese and Korean restaurants are plentiful, there's Vietnamese, Chinese, Indian, Mexican, Italian ... the list goes on.
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| Out for a curry (definite sense of deja vu here, given the company) |
View of the city from Mount Eden | Kelly Tarlton's Antartic Encounter |
There are some good bars in the city, one place I came across had a band (playing trip-hop) which sounded like Portishead but with a male singer!
Earlier I mentioned that Auckland is a good place to buy outdoor gear. There are a number of outdoor shops in Queen Street (the main shopping street in Auckland) but your best best is to catch a bus to Newmarket and check out Pack and Pedal. They've a good range of stuff, the staff are very knowledgeable and prices are competitive. There's a better range of shops in Newmarket than downtown.