Day 25 from Mapua to Auckland

"Bääääääm! Auckland." - That's how you could sum up the day. After driving through the green landscapes of New Zealand for weeks, thinking that Wellington was already big, suddenly you arrive in Auckland and remember what a big city feels like.

From the beginning: After a restful night, we set off on the last long drive to Auckland, which took about 3.5 hours. And here we are now, spending the last two nights (sounds sad) of our trip at the enchanting Hotel DeBrett. We decided that the car won't be moved to the airport until Friday. So let's put it far away.

After checking in, we had some sushi, which was wonderful. We have also decided that we will enjoy Auckland's culinary delights once again. Tomorrow we were able to secure a table at "The Sugar Club", on the 57th floor of the Sky Tower - the building where a New Year's Eve fireworks display is always launched, and since New Zealand is always the first big country to ring in the new year, it is always seen in the news, photo above. And for today, Cordula had actually managed to get a table at the "blue Elephant". THE legendary Thai restaurant from Bangkok, which has a branch here. More about that later.

After the sushi, we strolled through the city and I got my souvenir from the trip. I won't reveal much more, but it's very permanent, took a while, and you can see a hint photo above, it's called "Hint Photo". Cordula was on her own during that time and we met again at the hotel. After a briefing, we went to the aforementioned "blue Elephant". It was very small. In a kind of backyard. 😂 Conclusion: It was only "coincidentally" named the same as the original, but it had very good reviews and the food was okay.

It all ends with food: We wanted to treat ourselves to some ice cream and went to Giapo. It was the craziest ice cream parlor ever. First, we stood in a queue with ropes, then we were led in groups and the store was explained to us, including a tasting of all the flavors. Each flavor of ice cream had a special topping. After the tasting, I was actually already full. There were also some crazy variations in monster form or with a whole donut. We stuck with the "regular" version and only got one scoop. For example, I had peanut butter with chocolate topping. Everything was freshly made and then distributed. My scoop was huge and covered with a whole chocolate bar - seriously. I won't eat chocolate for the whole year. I feel really uncomfortable, but it was great. In the end, wet wipes were even handed out because we were covered in chocolate everywhere. Awesome.

Tomorrow we will explore Auckland completely. You will see.