My First Weekend

Its sunday evening here, and its the first truly good weather day I've had in Auckland since I arrived...ironic for a city that claims to have 245 days on sunshine a year. I've enjoying just wandering places by myself immensely, although I did finally hang out with some other people from my dorm last night.

Anyways, I made good use of the good weather today and walked over to Mt. Eden, which I have seen off-and-on through rain, haze and fog from my bedroom window. But before we get to that, a quick recap of the weekend.

I did indeed make not one, but two shopping trips Friday...both times I thought it had stopped raining, only to get absolutely poured on en route somewhere. I spent 116 NZ$ at a drug store, because everything is expensive b/c its mostly made in Australia. This was also my first trip to the busy Queen St area, where I was surprised to find Borders, Dunkin Donuts, Wendy's, Burger King, etc. Didn't see much of it though, as I tried (and failed to outrun) the absolute downpour. Went back and dried off, but I really did need to get some food to cook, so I walked over to Newmarket, the other major shopping area here. I went to Foodtown that turned out to also be a Woolworth's and got just about everything I needed. I tried to get the cheapest things (except the Cadbury bar and Cadbury hazelnut/chocolate granola bars, which I had to get, obviously), but again, I think because just about everything is made in Australia or elsewhere it added up fast, 164 NZ$! For dinner for the next couple of nights, I bought 5 of these "Italian" chicken wraps that were on sale... NZ's version of "Italian Sauce" tastes alot like Tikka Masala sauce, ie, there's definitely curry in it. Lamb was as cheap as chicken cutlets here, but I've never cooked red meat in my life and didn't wanna buy a kitchen's worth of ingredients soooo I didn't get it. Very limited cheese selection, no soft mozarella or goat cheese that I could find, although I wanted something large and cheap anyways so I got a 500-g brick of "Tasty cheddar", which is indeed tasty. And yes Dad, I got bananas and oatmeal for breakfast. Apparently avocados are a big thing here, but I didn't end up buying any b/c I didn't wanna buy everything for guacomole. Tea was a gamble, as I'm not used to anything but whatever kind of tea Tetley and Lipton bags are; I don't know the difference between English Breakfast and Earl Grey or Ceylon, etc. Got whatever was cheapest (Choysa Classic?) in a 30 bag box, as I didn't want to commit one way or another yet. Also of note, most of the detergent here is powder, although I did find a concentrated liquid one on sale, and dryer sheets apparently do not exist and there is a large selection of fresh refrigerated dog and cat food...interesting. In general, there's a much smaller selection of things here than I'm used, and I'm still baffled as to what the NZ equivalent of Target of Kmart is, although I got most things at Foodtown/Woolworth's anyway.

Yesterday I decided to get myself down to the harbor, after again waking up absurdly early, and maybe take a ferry or harbor cruise if the weather seemed promising. Well, it didn't, but I did walk to the ferry station and Britomart, the latter being the bus/train hub of Auckland. I was impressed that all the trains, buses and ferry terminals are all across the street from each other, unlike Penn, Port Authority, Grand central, etc. Since most the quays were closed for either construction or shipping, I continued walking all the way to where the road crosses Judges' and Hobson Bays so I could see out into the harbor without masts and containers in the way. I definitely have the Norton instinct to find water or a lookout and its playing itself out here, alot. The skies were looking threatening once again, so I cut through Parnell, the most affluent section of Auckland along with Ponsonby, I believe. I've been navigating my way through the city with free maps in pamphlets btw, I should probably just invest in a less destructable map soon. Came back through the domain (where I saw a pukeko bird, it was really cool!), exhausted from literally walking around the entire city, and napped because the weather didn't seem like it was going to improve. Of course, I woke up and it was nice...oh Auckland.

My dorm had a meet-up-and-go to the Starlight Symphony concert in the Domain last night. 

Symphony was good, they played crowd favorites, Bohemian Rhapsody, the duet from "Starlight express", part of the mozart requiem, and, of course the apparently universal summer tradition fireworks/cannons to the 1812 overture. They also had one of the world's few legit trombone quartets, who played William Tell, dressed as cowboys, its was adorable. Spent the more boring songs chatting with everyone, some kids were from London, some were NZ freshmen, south african and of course, American; all boys except for two NZ freshmen girls. Lots of the kinds of convos you'd expect from international students about accents, majors etc., but they were all pretty nice; one kid from DC  was big music guy, so that was cool. Also got my first glimpse of the stars here on the other side of the world...Orion was upside down, weird. Afterwards all of us were supposed to go to some house party (alot of kids have been here longer than me) but everyone got kinda split up in the exiting crowd from the park and I ended up with a nice little group of more laid-back kids, a girl from Switzerland who backpacked for 6 weeks before coming to Huia, a 2nd bachelor's degree guy from Christchurch and an exchange student from Scotland. We decided to just find anywhere to grab a beer or two and ended up at this Belgian Beer place downtown.  They had a decent band playing such things as "Living on a Prayer", and apparently  Leslie, my cousin's cousin (ie, the only other person I know in Auckland) heard this outside and decided she needed to come in to represent Jersey right. It was so absurd to run into her, especially because we had tried some way of meeting up this weekend but without a cellphone, this was difficult. The only other American girls I met besides Leslie and her friends were just kinda...dumb.  Kinda lost them between Huia and the house party or whereever they ended up. This Belgian place sorta was expensive but I got a nice dark German beer and the band playing there was alot of fun so I danced alot with Leslie and her friends; she introduced me as her cousin, it was cute and I'm glad we ran into each other. 
Highlight of the night, besides the fact that I got to meet people, was that it made me stay up til 2am, so my sleep schedule felt a bit more normal, I woke up at 10:15am today, not 5 or 7.

Today I practically leapt outta bed to enjoy the sunny day, and walked about 20 minutes to Mt. Eden, the tallest point in Auckland. For my geology-nerd self, I was so excited to be on my first volcano, even if its been extinct for some time now. Climbed up through park-like forests and open grassy areas, the latter which I think must be used for livestock of some sort sometimes, judging by the water buckets and extensive fences. The views were absolutely gorgeous, 360 degrees in all directions; I really wish I had brought a better map or guidebook though, as I wasn't entirely sure what was what in my lines of view besides the immediate CBD (central business district, downtown) and the north shore/Rangitoto Island. I could see all the surrounding mountain ranges, including this hulking mass of a mountain to the southeast. Sitting in the grass with a nice breeze and sunshine, looking over the whole of the Auckland area...it doesn't get much better so far :-)
I am dying to travel already, although I am loving these days of wandering around the city by myself. I like planning a trip for myself, even if its just to places around here.

My wandering days may be over for awhile though, as orientations start tomorrow. 
I gotta put on my best small talk and get myself orientated!

Hope you're all enjoying your Saturday night!
See facebook for pics, or shutterfly: http://ashleysnewzealandpics.shutterfly.com/

~Ashley