Desperately seeking holiday - day 1
I've been taking leave every day since February. Sick leave. Then rec leave. Then long service leave.
I've had a few tired weekends, to Kiama, to Blue Mountains and to Gold Coast, but I was desperate to have a real "holiday" and also get to Auckland since I found out the UNISTARS conference was here this year, and I have tacked on a few days of touring to the Bay of Islands first. I will present my conference workshop on Monday.
I came to Auckland in 2007 as my first overseas trip since I was 6, and went west (Coromondel - Hot Water Beach), then south (Waitomo caves where I went black water caving, Rotorua, Taupo (and mineral springs), Napier, and finally Wellington). I hadn't been to the beautiful Northlands, and this trip I wanted to change that.
Day 1 was spent going north from Auckland to Paihua via the Waitangi Treaty House. I always wanted to visit the Waitangi Treaty House as I'd heard of the different way the indigenous people of New Zealand (the Maori) were treated, particularly compared to Australia. Our guide and driver on the way up was Ben and he was lovely.
I asked him about the coach before I got on, and it turned out there were only 11 people on the coach and that meant we could have 5 SEATS EACH. The coach also had both WIFI for free and charging stations! It's clearly been a while since I had travelled anywhere by coach. They were in the 21st century!!!
I ended up lending my charger out to multiple people, so that I had to use my backup charger (I keep it with me) but it was super nice to be helpful. The wifi meant that everyone pretty much stared at their phones, including me, although I did try to take notes and listen to Ben (or should I say "Bin").
Some of the things I learnt:
- The original Auckland Harbour bridge was built with 4 lanes, and then they tacked on 2 additional lanes. They were done by a company called Nippon, so the lanes are called the Nippon Clipons! hehe
- The housing market in Auckland is not as bad as Sydney, but it's still pretty hard when the average income is $55K a year.
- He told us about the poo pond (sewage treatment, about Snow Planet (an indoor skiing place) the price of petrol ($2.30 a LITRE!), toll road issues, and how many earthquakes NZ has a year (the answer is a LOT).
- We saw a 650 year old tree
- Apparently the Rainbow Warrior is now a dive site (#goals!)
- The 5 industries of NZ are in order: tourism, forestry, farming, oil and wine.
- Waitangi grounds nearly didn't get saved and would have been turned into housing
- A massive amount of history at Waitangi including the 100 year anniversary war canoe (which was way too big to be carried so they just built a shed over it)
- The Anglican church at Paihua (my accommodation town) was destroyed by cyclones twice, so then they built it in stone
- It's also where they host the Catholic service once a month
- There was a misunderstanding between the Maori people and the English people doing the treaty - the Maori didn't realise that they would be under the sovereignty of Queen Victoria - they thought that they would just be under governance (and only the white people - they would be able to govern themselves)
- Abel Tasman didn't land and he was hopeless with the Maori, James Cook was much better
After I left the coach I checked in to my modest motel room (the room is ok, it's a bit noisy from the sound of other people, the cars outside and the TV's etc in surrounding rooms). My room in Auckland was much better because it was quieter, and it had a kitchennette. Neither has a view. But really, they're both fine as long as you have ear plugs.
Later on, I went out to dinner and walked around the different restaurants for ages, trying to find the one I'd seen written about. I failed. I really wanted a proper meal, not pasta or pizza or fried food or Asian food (after all, there's better Asian food in Sydney). I ended up at a club and really shouldn't have stayed when I was the only person eating!!! Still, the service was pretty good even if the polenta was rubbery, the chicken pretty tasteless and the pavlova very-unpavlova-like (and the whole meal cost $40!)
I struggled to get to sleep again because my heart was beating out of my chest, and eventually fell asleep about 1am (or 11pm Sydney time). I got up at 6.30am Auckland time (or a shudderingly early 4.30am AEDT). But that's today's adventures and I'm getting ahead of myself...
I've had a few tired weekends, to Kiama, to Blue Mountains and to Gold Coast, but I was desperate to have a real "holiday" and also get to Auckland since I found out the UNISTARS conference was here this year, and I have tacked on a few days of touring to the Bay of Islands first. I will present my conference workshop on Monday.
I came to Auckland in 2007 as my first overseas trip since I was 6, and went west (Coromondel - Hot Water Beach), then south (Waitomo caves where I went black water caving, Rotorua, Taupo (and mineral springs), Napier, and finally Wellington). I hadn't been to the beautiful Northlands, and this trip I wanted to change that.
Day 1 was spent going north from Auckland to Paihua via the Waitangi Treaty House. I always wanted to visit the Waitangi Treaty House as I'd heard of the different way the indigenous people of New Zealand (the Maori) were treated, particularly compared to Australia. Our guide and driver on the way up was Ben and he was lovely.
I asked him about the coach before I got on, and it turned out there were only 11 people on the coach and that meant we could have 5 SEATS EACH. The coach also had both WIFI for free and charging stations! It's clearly been a while since I had travelled anywhere by coach. They were in the 21st century!!!
I ended up lending my charger out to multiple people, so that I had to use my backup charger (I keep it with me) but it was super nice to be helpful. The wifi meant that everyone pretty much stared at their phones, including me, although I did try to take notes and listen to Ben (or should I say "Bin").
Some of the things I learnt:
- The original Auckland Harbour bridge was built with 4 lanes, and then they tacked on 2 additional lanes. They were done by a company called Nippon, so the lanes are called the Nippon Clipons! hehe
- The housing market in Auckland is not as bad as Sydney, but it's still pretty hard when the average income is $55K a year.
- He told us about the poo pond (sewage treatment, about Snow Planet (an indoor skiing place) the price of petrol ($2.30 a LITRE!), toll road issues, and how many earthquakes NZ has a year (the answer is a LOT).
- We saw a 650 year old tree
- Apparently the Rainbow Warrior is now a dive site (#goals!)
- The 5 industries of NZ are in order: tourism, forestry, farming, oil and wine.
- Waitangi grounds nearly didn't get saved and would have been turned into housing
- A massive amount of history at Waitangi including the 100 year anniversary war canoe (which was way too big to be carried so they just built a shed over it)
- The Anglican church at Paihua (my accommodation town) was destroyed by cyclones twice, so then they built it in stone
- It's also where they host the Catholic service once a month
- There was a misunderstanding between the Maori people and the English people doing the treaty - the Maori didn't realise that they would be under the sovereignty of Queen Victoria - they thought that they would just be under governance (and only the white people - they would be able to govern themselves)
- Abel Tasman didn't land and he was hopeless with the Maori, James Cook was much better
After I left the coach I checked in to my modest motel room (the room is ok, it's a bit noisy from the sound of other people, the cars outside and the TV's etc in surrounding rooms). My room in Auckland was much better because it was quieter, and it had a kitchennette. Neither has a view. But really, they're both fine as long as you have ear plugs.
Later on, I went out to dinner and walked around the different restaurants for ages, trying to find the one I'd seen written about. I failed. I really wanted a proper meal, not pasta or pizza or fried food or Asian food (after all, there's better Asian food in Sydney). I ended up at a club and really shouldn't have stayed when I was the only person eating!!! Still, the service was pretty good even if the polenta was rubbery, the chicken pretty tasteless and the pavlova very-unpavlova-like (and the whole meal cost $40!)
I struggled to get to sleep again because my heart was beating out of my chest, and eventually fell asleep about 1am (or 11pm Sydney time). I got up at 6.30am Auckland time (or a shudderingly early 4.30am AEDT). But that's today's adventures and I'm getting ahead of myself...
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