Auckland

Looking North from Mount Eden

Auckland gets a bit of a bum rap.

Before arriving in New Zealand, I didn't know what to expect from the country's largest city. In the three months prior, I'd met a lot of travellers who'd passed through New Zealand before making the journey east to South America. When I asked for advice, just about all of them told me the same two things: "Spend most of your time on the South Island." and "Get the Hell out of Auckland as quickly as possible."

Nobody really expanded on this whole "Get out of Auckland" thing. I didn't know whether I was flying into a total dump, or whether it was more a back-handed way of saying that there are better ways to spend ones time in New Zealand.

I'd like to think it was the latter interpretation.

Looking South from Mount Eden

My time in Auckland was pretty relaxing. I took time out to hike around Mount Eden and One Tree Hill. The Auckland War Memorial Museum was a great place to spend a rainy day. I had fun walking around the Central Business District (CBD) -- which was an almost surreal experience given that it was my first time back in an English-speaking, Western-culture, First-World country in over three months. What was definitely surreal was walking into a Whitcoulls book store, under a gigantic Santa Claus, hearing Walking in a Winter Wonderland, while people outside were out in shorts and t-shirts and looking forward to the approach of summer.

Green Rallies, and a Really Creepy Santa

I spent five days in the city and I never felt the need to "get the Hell out of there as quickly as possible". I guess I needed the time to adjust to the eighteen-hour time zone change, to catch up on sleep, and to work out how to make the most of my six weeks in New Zealand.

The Obelisk at One Tree Hill

I think I found myself with a natural affinity to Auckland, because it reminds me a lot of Toronto. The similarity wouldn't be obvious to anybody with just a cursory knowledge of both cities. Auckland is quite a bit more scenic. Toronto has a much taller tower. I make the comparison because most New Zealanders' attitudes towards New Zealand's "Big Smoke" mirror most Canadians' attitudes towards our "Big Smoke". To the rest of Canada, we Torontonians are the boorish inhabitants of the "Centre of the Universe". And they don't mean "Centre of the Universe" as a compliment. In the rest of New Zealand, Aucklanders are known as JAFAs, or "Just Another Friendly Aucklander". Except they substitute 'Friendly' with another F-word.

Auckland is a perfectly likeable city. However, like Toronto, a lot of what Auckland has to offer is what makes it a livable city; not necessarily one for tourists and travellers. I love Toronto, but if travellers told me they had limited time to explore Canada, I'd be telling them to "get the Hell out of there as quickly as possible" too.