Two Days in Auckland!

Kaitlyn and I have decided that we’d like to experience the different cities in New Zealand by touring them ourselves. It has definitely allowed me to get a better idea of the atmosphere and lifestyles in each city. For example, Sydney was very green with a quite unique modern style of architecture and always felt busy. Auckland, however, seemed much more peaceful and relaxed but lacked the same amount of greenspace found in the Australian city. Here’s a bit of a summary of what we did during our two days in Auckland, New Zealand.



On our first day, we walked through several different parts of the city. We visited the harbour, three different parks, the University of Auckland campus, and the Sky Tower. Our hostel was in the centre of the city about 5 minutes walk to the waterfront. As can be expected, this part of the city was full of people but it didn't have the same rushed and somewhat chaotic feeling found in the busier parts of Sydney. After doing a circuit of the harbour, Kaitlyn and I found our first park; which was basically just a large sports field with trees lining the edges. However, I was surprised to find several teams of young children playing cricket! Turns out it's quite the popular sport down here (Kaitlyn and I were later trying to figure out how the game works). Our lunch was eaten at a small Italian restaurant where I had pasta and Kaitlyn tried a gourmet pizza that had potato wedges on top (which apparently was not a great idea).

Afterwards we found a second park, Albert Park, filled with lanterns. We thought this was a bit odd at the time but we later learned that there was a lantern festival that night to celebrate the Chinese New Year. The University of Auckland campus was right across the street so we spent some time wandering around it before finding a quiet spot to lay down on the grass and rest our legs. Finally we made our to a large park called The Domain. It consisted of botanical gardens, a tropical house, duck ponds, and winter gardens. That night we made our way over to the Auckland Sky Tower (Sydney has one just like it) to get a great 360 degree view of the city before strolling through Albert Park to see all the lanterns lit up in the dark.

We decided to act a bit more like tourists on our second day in Auckland and took a free shuttle to a local aquarium called Kelly Tarlton's where we got to see sharks, turtles, stingrays, and penguins! Nearby was a small beach where we took a couple pictures; just to say we had been on a beach, even though it was cloudy. We spent a bit more time walking around the centre of the city and went out for dinner and I ordered a $15 steak (which was really good!) and my first New Zealand beer!

Overall, it was a great few days in Auckland! It never fails to amaze me how different each city is from the next. Sydney wins based on the amount of greenspace and interesting architecture, but I definitely liked the atmosphere and social aspect of Auckland better. Find me next in: Wellington, New Zealand!