City trip Auckland

Our next destination is Argentina. From Fiji, you can fly to Auckland in New Zealand and from there directly to Buenos Aires. So we made a stopover in Auckland. Since we were completely guided by the flight prices, the stopover ended up being about five days, during which we passed the time in Auckland.

Shopping

After about six months, we are slowly getting tired of some of our clothes. In addition, some of the t-shirts have been heavily worn out due to the numerous washes and drying cycles. So we took advantage of the opportunity and went shopping in Auckland on Black Friday. First, we looked around the city center - most of the shops here actually participate in the Black Friday hype as well. Fortunately, they usually extend the promotions to the whole weekend, and on Saturday we were able to shop in the Onehunga Outlet as well. In addition to the clothes, we bought a new GoPro - the old one is unfortunately damaged. From now on, there will be videos in the best quality - without any disturbances.

Mount Eden

We booked a room at Bamber House through Hostelworld - which we usually use. It is located in the Mount Eden neighborhood, about a 30-minute walk from the center. It's a good place to hang out, they have super fast WiFi and a very clean kitchen. Most of the residents are backpackers who stay longer because they work here. There are a lot of French people here. For us, it was an ideal hostel a bit off the beaten path. In addition, the Mount Eden hill, which offers a great 360-degree panoramic view including the skyline to the north, can be reached in just 15 minutes. It's perfect for a cozy afternoon with an aperitif and a sunset - but you should bring something warm to wear. This applies to Auckland / New Zealand in general. The country is called Aotearoa in the Maori language - land of the long white cloud. It rains from time to time, the wind can be quite cool, and when the sun is shining, it's immediately t-shirt weather. We Swiss would call it April weather.

Museum

In order to experience something cultural despite our very short stay in the country, we visited the museum on a rainy day. It is located on one of the many crater hills in the city and is surrounded by a lot of greenery. It has a small park and a small botanical garden with greenhouses next to it. The museum itself is immensely large and you could spend several days in it. The Maori exhibition is embedded in exhibitions about other South Pacific island states. It also has Asian objects, natural exhibitions with stuffed animals from all over the world, and currently a butterfly exhibition. We also visited a short Maori cultural performance, where some performers presented traditional songs, dances, and of course, the well-known Haka. Quite a tourist program, but for us as short-term visitors to New Zealand, it was definitely interesting.

Rangitoto Island

In order to get out of the city a bit, we took a day trip to the small uninhabited island of Rangitoto in the Hauraki Gulf near Auckland. The twenty-minute ferry ride quickly takes you to the small volcanic island. Several hiking trails and beautiful bays attract both local and foreign day tourists here. On this day, there were also hundreds of school children, but they were already on their way back when we arrived. In a hike of just under an hour, you can climb the summit, which here is also a 600-year-old volcanic crater. From up here, you also have a great panoramic view - including the skyline of Auckland.