The weather this morning in Auckland was not the best so far. However yesterday evening i looked into the options of leaving Auckland for Northland.
And taking the weather forecast into account the best option was to take a bus to Dargaville. So early in the morning I left the B&B and headed to the Auckland Ferry Building. Guess what the driver of the mini bus was a dutch guy. So we chatted for nearly the entire journey. He recommended to visit the Kauri Museum and continue to Dargaville on bike. (Kauri is a huge tree, similar to the trees in yellow stone park)
So I spent one hour at the Kauri Museum and then started cycling. And to be honest the first kilometers were quite a challenge, steep climbs and 'tegenwind'. When i reached Ruawai I bought some additional supplies (water, coke and some muesli bars) and continued the last 28 kilometer towards Dargaville. In all it was a really nice ride and I was happy to reach Dargaville. The backpackers hostel is nice and there is currently one other guy (german) staying here.
After taking a nice hot shower and having dinner i spent part of the evening chatting with the other guest. And i really felt sleapy already at 21.00. Which is a good thing, it looks like cycling will help in adjusting to the local timezone ;-). Anyway will do some grocery shopping before leaving for a nice ride to a camping close to the Waipoua Kauri Forest. So this will be a day without internet will be nice for a change but i guess i will have to buy supplies for 2 days.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Skytower in Auckland
Adriaan mentioned that visiting the Skytower could best be combined with a visit to the Orbit restaurant on top. And i completely agree, the restaurant rotates a full 360 degrees so you have 'the' best viewing experience of Auckland. And having a nice dinner while you enjoy the beautiful view is a nice added bonus.
Forecast for today are not so good and tomorrow might be even worse. So I might reconsider my plans to start cycling. Next to that I still suffer from Jetlag, now it is 4.24 in the night so I am still in between timezones.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Travel is all about meeting people
During my trip i already met a number of nice people.
Starting with my encounter at Schiphol airport I met Mrs. Vanderveeken. A 76 year old lady with dutch roots living in NZ for the last 50 years. She participated in the master games in Finnland prior to visiting some relatives in Holland. She invited me to visit her and her family in Whangarei.
At the B&B (Chalet Chevron) in Auckland i met the nice owners Kelly and Barb. They provided a number of wonderfull insider tips due to which i will spend some additional time in the Auckland region.As a matter of fact on my return trip i will stay at this B&B again for a couple of days, so i can highly recommend it.
If weather permits i will take a photo of the B&B either today or in december.
At the B&B i also met Sean a guy from the UK who recently migrated to NZ. That seems like quite a challenge to me, since his family will join him in early januari.
Last night while watching the rugby match between the all blacks (NZ) and the wallabee's (AU) which NZ clearly won i met Adriaan a South African guy who lives in New Zealand for a number of years now. His wife recently gave birth to their second child. He is living south of Whangarei and i will visit them during the return trip from northland.
Well this is the best thing about travelling meeting al kinds of nice intersting people.
Starting with my encounter at Schiphol airport I met Mrs. Vanderveeken. A 76 year old lady with dutch roots living in NZ for the last 50 years. She participated in the master games in Finnland prior to visiting some relatives in Holland. She invited me to visit her and her family in Whangarei.
At the B&B (Chalet Chevron) in Auckland i met the nice owners Kelly and Barb. They provided a number of wonderfull insider tips due to which i will spend some additional time in the Auckland region.As a matter of fact on my return trip i will stay at this B&B again for a couple of days, so i can highly recommend it.
If weather permits i will take a photo of the B&B either today or in december.
At the B&B i also met Sean a guy from the UK who recently migrated to NZ. That seems like quite a challenge to me, since his family will join him in early januari.
Last night while watching the rugby match between the all blacks (NZ) and the wallabee's (AU) which NZ clearly won i met Adriaan a South African guy who lives in New Zealand for a number of years now. His wife recently gave birth to their second child. He is living south of Whangarei and i will visit them during the return trip from northland.
Well this is the best thing about travelling meeting al kinds of nice intersting people.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Greetings to the people at Philips
It is always nice to see a familiar logo ;-) abroad. This is a nice 'lichtreclame' close to the Auckland Harbor District which is one of the main tourist attractions.
Philips is considered to be a brand of home appliances (mostly the former DAP product range) and light bulbs over here.
The harbour district and Queen Street are at the heart of CBD (Commercial Business District).
A good option to discover Auckland is to use the green link busses, they are cheap and provide a circle tour which show most of the city.
While enjoying the tour i discovered plenty of parts of Auckland which i still want to visit. So on the return trip i will plan in some additional days in Auckland.
And Barb (Kelly's wife), mentioned that you can also have sailing tour of the harbour on a competition sailing boat in Auckland. That sounds really tempting so i will do that in december as well.
Auckland view from my room at the B&B
This is a view of the eastern suburbs looking out over Hobson Bay.
Today the weather could have been better, however tomorrow's forecasts are very promising. Tomorrow I will visit the Auckland Skytower and make some nice pictures of the city skyline.
Fixed my problem with the phone charger today as well. Apparantly HTC branded phones are not being sold in NZ.
I am almost ready to start the actual cycling. Got some essential gear as well over here. Found a nice Icebreaker outlet shop which i will surely visit prior to leaving NZ in december.
I am almost ready to start the actual cycling. Got some essential gear as well over here. Found a nice Icebreaker outlet shop which i will surely visit prior to leaving NZ in december.
The bike arrived !!!! finally
The airline phoned the B&B already in the morning explaining that the bike would be on the first inbound plane from Hong Kong. The plane was supposed to arrive at 11.00 local time. And my bike would be delivered between 12.00 and 12.30.
So after doing some shopping i returned to the B&B at 11.30 anxious to receive the bike. However after waiting for the most part of the afternoon i was getting quite hungry. Luckily Kelly the owner of the B&B arrived at 14.30 and would stay at the frontdesk for most of the afternoon.
According to the airline the bike would be delivered before 15.00. So i enjoyed a very nice lunch at one of Auckland's finest Indian restaurants (Oh Calcutta).
However when i returned from lunch still no bike. So i contacted the airline a 3rd time and they confirmed that the bike arrived in Auckland, already passed through the bio inspection at the airport and was due for pickup by a minivan.
Even after spending another hour of waiting still no bike. By that time i also started to become rather tired so i went for a small nap. And guess what after only 10 minutes of resting the phone rang with the best news of the day.
The cardboard box with the bike finally arrived at 17.00 local time and when unpacking it it is still in prime condition!!!
In short I can recommend carrying a bike on a plane (especially KLM which costs 80 euro's end-to-end).
So after doing some shopping i returned to the B&B at 11.30 anxious to receive the bike. However after waiting for the most part of the afternoon i was getting quite hungry. Luckily Kelly the owner of the B&B arrived at 14.30 and would stay at the frontdesk for most of the afternoon.
According to the airline the bike would be delivered before 15.00. So i enjoyed a very nice lunch at one of Auckland's finest Indian restaurants (Oh Calcutta).
However when i returned from lunch still no bike. So i contacted the airline a 3rd time and they confirmed that the bike arrived in Auckland, already passed through the bio inspection at the airport and was due for pickup by a minivan.
Even after spending another hour of waiting still no bike. By that time i also started to become rather tired so i went for a small nap. And guess what after only 10 minutes of resting the phone rang with the best news of the day.
The cardboard box with the bike finally arrived at 17.00 local time and when unpacking it it is still in prime condition!!!
In short I can recommend carrying a bike on a plane (especially KLM which costs 80 euro's end-to-end).
Friday, September 18, 2009
Day 2 in Auckland
Booked a nice and cosy B&B in Auckland, and since they have an internet connection i can update my weblog rather quickly. In future the updates will be less frequent depending on my access to internet.
Yesterday i had my first shopping experience in NZ, and was able to buy a prepaid simcard. So i do have a NZ mobile number now. The phone works nicely although apparantly the volume on the receiving end (NL) seems to be rather low.
This morning i received a phonecall from the airline and my bike will be arriving in NZ today, which is great news. Let's see whether it is also still in prime condition.
Yesterday i had my first shopping experience in NZ, and was able to buy a prepaid simcard. So i do have a NZ mobile number now. The phone works nicely although apparantly the volume on the receiving end (NL) seems to be rather low.
This morning i received a phonecall from the airline and my bike will be arriving in NZ today, which is great news. Let's see whether it is also still in prime condition.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
