Tag 116 - thought through

08/24/19

- Jonna

A very relaxed, long first night is behind us. We take it easy and after a hearty breakfast, we make the camper 'ready for the journey' - one spreads out quite thoughtlessly. After a short research, we head to downtown Auckland. We park in a free residential street and can't believe that we are already in the middle of a metropolis. Everything is green and the houses here would rather be expected in Sweden. Most of the houses are wooden single-family houses. Most of them are painted in light white, gray or pastel. The front yards are lovingly decorated and except for an older couple who confirm that we can park here for free, there is no car on the road and it is quite quiet. Unbelievable, this is how it can be.

We stroll up the street towards the first second-hand store. Our route through the city is oriented towards them because we still need a sweater or two. We come to a main street where there are some very nice cafes and said second-hand stores. We look around a bit but quickly realize that everything is pretty shabby and continue on towards downtown.

We come through an old cemetery and through a park to a super hip shopping street. The whole thing strongly reminds us of the Schanze in Hamburg. Everywhere there are hipsters, there are many cafes, second-hand stores, tables and benches on the sidewalks, and there is more going on than in any street we have seen in New Zealand so far.

We immediately like it and we (well, maybe I) like the second-hand stores even more. We find what we're looking for and the prices are even more unbeatable than at the Warehouse. In a good mood, we continue through Auckland, and even the streets lined with skyscrapers have a very pleasant charm. Although it is Saturday, there aren't too many people around, and we continue on our way, not towards the second-hand store but towards the harbor. We enjoy the incredibly good weather and walk along the harbor basin, admire the view of the skyline in one direction and the sea, coast, and islands in the other.

We walk through a newly designed neighborhood (as expected by an urban developer, we naturally stop at the small information booth about this district) and get a snack at the next supermarket.

Through residential areas and shopping streets (which, in terms of atmosphere, strongly resemble Holtenauer Straße in Kiel), we return to the car with little stops at cute shops. Auckland fascinates us and after just one day it already belongs to our absolute favorite cities.

The location by the water, the proximity to nature, which is not lost even in such a big city, the structures reminiscent of well-thought-out and carefully planned Scandinavian cities, the many cafes, boutiques, and beautiful architecture (although the old town of course is missing in terms of European standards) make it hard not to like this city, which is actually more like a village. Back at the car, we search for the nearest supermarket on the way back to the farm campsite. We buy some fresh things and when we are back in the car, we spontaneously decide that we can actually continue north. The next free place is a little over an hour away, but it is still light out and we feel like sleeping somewhere else. At that moment, the feeling of absolute freedom is perfect. We have all our things with us, we can go wherever we want, sleep wherever we want, and do whatever we feel like doing (and all of this in a supermarket parking lot). We turn on the music and leave the city in the sunset heading north.

We arrive at the place in the dark. A parking lot next to the marina. It is quite busy, so we have to squeeze between two campers. It doesn't matter, it's dark anyway, and when the curtains are closed, it could be anywhere. We cook ourselves dinner and go to sleep early again today.

- Jonna