Epic Auckland
The first experience of New Zealand hospitality came while still on board the China Eastern flight from our 4-day stopover in Shanghai. Staff coming on the plane to spray it, us and our cabin luggage and I assume our luggage in the hold had already had the treatment.
We later learn that from the Arrival magazine picked up at the airport that New Zealand has gotten rid of any creatures that do harm so the only way they are going to come back to the paradisaical island is if we bring them. Fair enough.
Understandably, a country that’s both next to Asia and cosmopolitan is going have a plethora of South Asian restaurants which is the last thing we wanted after two long-haul flights serving just Chinese food. So we took advantage of the British influence and went straight to a pub to have a fine meal and for me, a glass of Sauvignon Blanc - the only white wine I truly favour in its country of origin.
We had two major items on the agenda for our first visit to NZ; the train to Wellington, which also serves the purpose of getting us to our second destination in the country. And Hobbiton. The first is pretty special as our Uber driver could testify when he collected us early on a Saturday morning to take us to the station. He was almost as excited as we were, having never experienced the Northern Explorer himself. The latter sadly is a huge, unavoidable, over-priced tourist trap.
Unavoidable as two Lord of the Rings fans could not fly to the other side of the world and not go to it. The fact that we didn’t even book this until the day before we did the trip says we were in two minds about it. It’s certainly not worth the c£100 each, which included the cost of getting there by (tour) bus, as sadly road is the only way to travel to it.
My first surprise in the city I thought of as progressive is the reliance on the car. There are about three train lines across the whole country and the fact that the only way to get to a major tourist attraction is by the road says, as the tour guide put it, Aucklanders do love their cars. This will explain why crossing roads took so long.
Following on from that, I found their Christmas decorations a little on the tacky (read, American) side but was thrilled to find the very wrapping paper I was looking for (red & red in honour of the beloved’s 40th year) by sheer chance outside a little local shop. Also, Auckland’s department stores are small with tiny Christmas departments - even the out of town ones - but we had reached here via the humongous ones in Shanghai.
Evidence of how welcoming this country is everywhere from the leaflets for people who employ immigrants to the fantastic Arrival magazine packed with tips and available free at the airport.
Auckland lived up to its reputation as a bit young and partyish while being a paradisaical and progressive. We enjoyed it even more for the second stay on our way back home via Shanghai. Wellington seemed very provincial so we embraced Auckland for our final 24 hours loving the food, the hospitality and the ambition of this wonderful city. We’ll be back!
