So I just got to Paihia (pronounced Pie-Hee-ah) on the Eastern half of the North Peninsula above Auckland, about a four hour bus ride from the city. The hostel I’m stationed at, The Saltwalter Lodge, is really clean and open. I’ve only met a few people so far but the place is currently swarming with Danes. Apparently there is a big student group of some sort and about 3 dozen Scandinavians are walking around speaking gibberish. According to my German roommates they are absolutely nuts, and I’m looking forward to seeing all the stupid drunk antics they may get up to later.

Anyway, my days in Auckland included an ungodly amount of walking. I owe a big debt of gratitude to the elliptical back home, because without months of slow-motion cardio training I fear I wouldn’t have lasted. My first half day isn’t really worth mentioning because I was so sleep-deprived that nothing I accomplished is interesting to anyone at all, including mysellf. The best thing I did that first afternoon was stumble into a Malaysian restaurant and eat a noodle dish called Char Kway Teow, which I highly recommend to anyone who finds themselves dining with the Prime Minister of Claymation (Zoolander reference for the confused).

So the next morning I thought it would be fun to walk to my new hostel rather than take taxi or ask an information kiosk for the proper bus. With my 28 pound bag on my back I walked for three hours, mostly uphill, to the Auckland suburb of Mount Eden, where the Bamber House is located. Once I did get there I found a really nice house tucked away in the middle of a residential area. The majority of the guests there were long-term residents and the place had a “co-op” feel to it, or maybe a low budget version of the Real World where the residents don’t party as much. As I remember it there was Brendan and Jazz (short for Jasmine) from Toronto, Matt, Peter, and Vicky from Ireland, Frankie (a girl) and Trudy from the West Midlands in the UK, and Mathue (sp.?) and Sebastian from Toullouse and Bordeaux respectively. All of them had come to New Zealand looking for work and as far as I can tell most of them had found it. The two French guys in particular both mentioned the dismal job situation back home, while the Irish folks whined about how their homeland was too small and had awful weather. My time there was pleasant but I felt a little like an interloper, since my stay was so short compared to all of theirs. The whole thing was worth it though if just to hear all of the accents.

The two highlights of Auckland for me were Mt. Eden and Waiheke Island. Mt. Eden was a few minutes from my hostel and provided some amazing views of Auckland and beyond. I asked a girl there to take a picture for me, and she obligingly took a photo of the skyline without me in frame (one, of course, I could have taken myself). After a quick tutorial she took one with me in it, featured below.

Waiheke Island is a 30 minute ferry ride north of Auckland, and was really quite astonishing. It’s a fairly big island and requires a bus or two to get all the way across. I decided to turn left out of the dock and walk along the beach, and was rewarded with a four hour hike where I didn’t see a single person and ran out of water halfway through.

A quick, semi-related side note here on tanning. Now, anyone near as pale as me knows that the original “base tan” is one of the most important stages. Not only does a base tan start to build a UV tolerance in the skin, but the original unveiling of your/my ivory torso can lead to others sniggering. (Which, by the way, is crap. Clearly I’m pale otherwise I wouldn’t be tanning.) So imagine my delight when I discovered my own private beach to lay out on, without fear of strangers’ mockery. I spent a solid hour on the beach, finishing up the Great Gatsby, and then proceeded to walk around the coast and bush for three hours. I only received a minor sunburn halfway down my back, where apparently my two hands couldn’t reach. This will now be known as the “lonely man’s burn”.

So Waiheke Island was fantastic, and I’ve thrown a couple of photos down below. If anyone finds themselves in Auckland this island should be atop their list, and be sure to give it a whole day since the place is so big. Also I saw about a dozen new birds, which I’ll try and include in a separate post later.

As I said in the beginning I’m at the Saltwater Lodge in Paihia. It’s a little windy but really warm and sunny, and apparently a t-shirt and shorts are all that is required when going out at night. I’m hoping to watch a Rugby Match on TV tonight (Chiefs v. Highlanders) and then I start work a 10 tomorrow morning. Sweet-as.

*I can’t figure out the photos exactly so I’ve just thrown them all together down below.