New Zealand - Auckland

My flight from Santiago left at 1130pm on the 27^th of February. I landed in Auckland at 430am on the 29^th of February (leap day). I skipped a real day and landed in one that exists only every four years. It’s a strange feeling knowing that there’s a day in your life that never truly existed.

I arrived at my hostel just past 5am to find everything locked up and shut down. I was completely unaware that their reception didn’t open until 730am. Luckily for me, a British guy named Adrian was still awake and was, of all things, doing stretches in the lobby. He was kind enough to let me in. Adrian is one of the more bizarre characters I’ve met while travelling. He flirts with everything that has two legs and has quite the effeminate personality. Yet he’s quite the homophobe. He also has loads of wild stories, which we exchanged a number of while I waited for reception to open. And apparently he was using some of my stories later on as if they were his.

Cheeky bastard.

By the time I checked in, I was hardly tired. I’d gotten enough sleep on the plane to keep me afloat, so I spent the day walking around and exploring the city. It reminded me a lot of Seattle. Cool weather, constantly overcast and rolling hills surround a beautiful harbor. The Auckland tower is also eerily similar in both size and shape to the Space Needle and dominates the skyline.

Auckland is a cool city, but New Zealand is best experienced in the wilderness. Therefore all of the big things to do were located well outside the city and required a full day commitment. I wasn’t in the mood for something that involving every day. There were three things I really wanted to do while in Auckland: see a rugby match, go whale watching and sail on an America’s Cup yacht. I guess two of the three ain’t bad. It just meant I had a few days of filler in the middle. But that was okay. At this juncture I was really just happy to be in a country with no language barrier. The simplest of things were enjoyable because they weren’t such a struggle anymore.

Early on I bonded with Ryan, a guy from Colorado, and Lina and Madita, two sisters from Germany. On the second day I went with Madita to Rangitoto island. The island is a nature preserve and only a short distance from downtown. It was a nice walk and offered breathtaking views of the city and surrounding harbor. The last return ferry left at 330pm, so there was plenty of time to kill before we all went out for the night. I took a nap. I was still jetlagged. The evening offered plenty of debauchery, drunken shenanigans and apparently some drama that I was not privy to. It was loads of fun, albeit expensive. Drinking in New Zealand was a far cry from the cheap bottles of beer that were being tossed back in South America.

Means I drank less. Probably for the better.

My sailing adventure almost didn’t happen. I got an email early in the morning informing me that a major storm was approaching and I could do one today but would have to cancel the other. America’s cup yacht it was.

There were about 15 of us on board and each of us got the opportunity to operate the grinders,which raise and adjust the sails, and steer. The weather may have been dreary, but the experience was well worth it. We zig-zagged across the harbor for over an hour, maxing out at a speed of about 8 knots. However, as we get back on the grinders to bring the sail down, it got stuck. One of the crewmembers had to be strapped into a harness and pulled to the top of the mast, where he spent over 20 minutes trying to manually release it.

Apparently this happens all of once of twice a year. Kinda lucky if you think about it.

The massive storm made landfall on Friday night. There was no rain, but the wind was howling all night. It was awesome. By morning things had cleared up and it actually turned into a rather pleasant day. The whale-watching trip probably could have gone on, but it had already been cancelled. Because of it I had no plans. So I did some laundry and went to the movies.

My last day in town was spent at the Rugby League match. Ryan and I walked to the stadium and, even with our limited knowledge of the rules, enjoyed the game. It was the opening match of the season and a rematch of the previous years championship, pitting the Auckland Warriors vs. the Manly Sea Eagles (from Sydney). The game was very exciting; the second half especially. Auckland was down by two scores and came roaring back to within a point in the final minutes. On one of their final possessions they moved the ball within scoring range but were unable to convert.