Auckland - our start into an adventure

Now to the city of Auckland, where we spent our first 5 days.

For our trip, we booked our flights, hostel, and the assistance of an organization (specifically for work and travelers) through STA Travel. The organization offered an orientation event, which we attended just four hours after landing. Consequently, our receptiveness was very high.

Everything about working & traveling in New Zealand was explained. In addition, the organization assisted with opening a bank account and obtaining a tax number. Although we had asked this question in Germany and were told "no" by STA Travel, we needed our German tax number for this step, which we didn't have with us. So, unlike everyone else, we were responsible for organizing our bank account. We were shocked and asked ourselves, in which box are those darn papers? And how do we quickly reach our parents considering the time difference?

After a few hours of uncertainty and nerve-wracking plans, we got our numbers two days later. With all the documents, we now had to make a bank appointment ourselves. But in Auckland, it was not possible to get an appointment in less than a week. So we needed an alternative quickly because without a New Zealand bank account and tax number, work is not allowed. Since we definitely didn't want to stay in the Horrible Hostel for more than the booked 5 nights, we decided to go Wwoofing for the first few weeks, preferably in the Northland. If you don't know what Wwoofing is, you can find out in the next post. The Northland seemed tangible to us because it borders Auckland and is not as far away as the South Island. We initially planned to travel to the South Island, but now the organizational matters are our priority.

And now to Auckland, one of the three major cities in New Zealand. We spent part of our time in a public library, not to read books, but because they had free WiFi, which we needed for research.

To distract ourselves from the planning stress, we explored Albert Park and were fascinated by the gigantic and different types of trees. We had never seen such ancient trees before, especially with such mighty roots. The Auckland Domain Park was also impressive. It's a slightly larger park, where we immediately noticed the sounds of birds, which were completely different from those in Germany. We explored the harbor and a Silo Park, from which we had a beautiful view of the city's skyline.

One particularly noticeable thing in the city were the city scooters available for rent, which many people rode through the pedestrian zones, some more skillfully than others. We also watched a pizza delivery person participating in traffic with some kind of electric unicycle *sry no pic - still crazy*.

And now for the essential topic... FOOD! When we first searched for a restaurant, we realized that we were in the middle of Chinatown. There were only Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, and other Asian nationalities everywhere. It took us a loooong time and many steps to explore the city's offerings. There were also plenty of burger restaurants and Mexican places, but nowhere to be found were original Thuringian sausages, and even finding an Italian restaurant for Tim required googling.

Our most interesting and Tim's spiciest food experience was at 'Sunny Town China Taste'. From the outside, we could watch the chefs prepare the dumplings, which were then steamed in a bamboo basket. Tim, of course, chose something spicy, a soup with glass noodles. This dish turned out to be a real challenge because it was not only very spicy, but the noodles also stuck together like chewing gum. It was very funny to watch. It was only after he mastered the technique (slurping or sucking Chinese-style) halfway through that the soup was quickly finished and his nose was clear.