As planned, this was our first weekend that was full of activities. It started Friday night by going to New Market (outskirts of Auckland) with my host mom, Jan, and her friends. One of her friends works for the Lion Brewery so we met up with her there and took advantage of the fully stocked bar she has at work in the break room/bar. After we drove and had ano
ther drink and appetizer (Jan is on the left and Rob is on the right) before getting dinner at Wagamama. I was happy to see that name as it was a favorite restaurant of mine in London—and even happier when it worked out that we were eating there!
Saturday as promised we went to Rob’s (Jan’s boyfriend) spinning class. It was great to get in a early morning sweat s
ession before Megan and I headed off to Auckland. Though I may not have needed it because we did our fair share of walking. Our trip started off late after we sat at the train station for 15 minutes, only to be told, “Don’t you know there are no trains coming through this weekend?’ Well, turns out we didn’t and had to catch a bus. When we finally got into the city, we decided we wanted to first check out a view of the city from the SkyTower- this needle nosed tower that I’ve been seeing from Swanson. One would think this would be an easy task as it is the biggest building in the city, bigger than even the Eiffel Tower as we later learned. But not on this day—we walked to the top of this really steep hill(a 10-15 minute walk) before we turned around and realized we’d walked right past it. When we finally made it there, we got our tickets and went up. The view from up there was amazing and we were able to see all of Auckland and the surrounding areas. There were also people who were bungee jumping off the tower and we watched a few of those jumps. 
After many photos, we walked down to Victoria Market to do some shopping (got lots of souvenirs!) and finished the day at the waterfront with a Guinness at an Irish bar. Our traveling adventures weren’t over though…the bus we took home apparently wasn’t the same one and we didn’t realize this till the bus driver physically turned around and asked me, “where are you trying to go” and then “we already passed it.” So he dropped us off in some dodgy area and we decided to take our chances with a 20 minute walk home. After successfully making it home, we were definitely tired and needed rest before our day on Sunday.
Sunday we left at 8:15am to catch the ferry to Rongatoto Island. This is actually a volcano and we spent the day hiking to the top. The vie w was well worth the two hour climb. We also took a
stop off at some caves. There are no shops on this island, so we enjoyed a bag lunch at the top and then walked around the rim and down to a bay which was very beautiful and peaceful. Then it was time to hike the two hours around the side of the island to the ferry. All in all, about four hours of walking made for a very tired Sarah and a good end to the weekend. I can’t wait to see what adventures next weekend will hold!
ther drink and appetizer (Jan is on the left and Rob is on the right) before getting dinner at Wagamama. I was happy to see that name as it was a favorite restaurant of mine in London—and even happier when it worked out that we were eating there!Saturday as promised we went to Rob’s (Jan’s boyfriend) spinning class. It was great to get in a early morning sweat s
ession before Megan and I headed off to Auckland. Though I may not have needed it because we did our fair share of walking. Our trip started off late after we sat at the train station for 15 minutes, only to be told, “Don’t you know there are no trains coming through this weekend?’ Well, turns out we didn’t and had to catch a bus. When we finally got into the city, we decided we wanted to first check out a view of the city from the SkyTower- this needle nosed tower that I’ve been seeing from Swanson. One would think this would be an easy task as it is the biggest building in the city, bigger than even the Eiffel Tower as we later learned. But not on this day—we walked to the top of this really steep hill(a 10-15 minute walk) before we turned around and realized we’d walked right past it. When we finally made it there, we got our tickets and went up. The view from up there was amazing and we were able to see all of Auckland and the surrounding areas. There were also people who were bungee jumping off the tower and we watched a few of those jumps. 
After many photos, we walked down to Victoria Market to do some shopping (got lots of souvenirs!) and finished the day at the waterfront with a Guinness at an Irish bar. Our traveling adventures weren’t over though…the bus we took home apparently wasn’t the same one and we didn’t realize this till the bus driver physically turned around and asked me, “where are you trying to go” and then “we already passed it.” So he dropped us off in some dodgy area and we decided to take our chances with a 20 minute walk home. After successfully making it home, we were definitely tired and needed rest before our day on Sunday.
Sunday we left at 8:15am to catch the ferry to Rongatoto Island. This is actually a volcano and we spent the day hiking to the top. The vie w was well worth the two hour climb. We also took a
stop off at some caves. There are no shops on this island, so we enjoyed a bag lunch at the top and then walked around the rim and down to a bay which was very beautiful and peaceful. Then it was time to hike the two hours around the side of the island to the ferry. All in all, about four hours of walking made for a very tired Sarah and a good end to the weekend. I can’t wait to see what adventures next weekend will hold!
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