Full Circle

And I'm back in Auckland! Where I started my New Zealand adventure a month ago. I've finished the Kiwi Experience now, and I've got three days left until I fly to Melbourne on Thursday. It was nice because I was the first person on the Kiwi bus when I started, and I was the last person off when I got back here.

Auckland is a good place to spend a few days. It's New Zealand's biggest city, with a third of the country's entire population living here. But it still doesn't feel busy or crowded in the centre. I think it's quite spread out. There's plenty to see and do, but so far I've been content just to wander round the centre and enjoy being in a city again. Even Wellington feels like a town. But I have been used to sprawling Latin American metropolises. 

It's properly winter now, being mid-June, and yet Auckland is 18 degrees and sunny. This is British summer! If this was my winter I'd have nothing to complain about. But it is weird that there are ice rinks up and winter lights, but it's not Christmas. It feels very incongruous. Southern hemisphere problems. 

Parts of Auckland remind me a lot of my hometown of Birmingham, so it's nice to have some familiarity around me. 

It's also very multi-cultural, with a large population of Pacific islanders and Asian people. There are so many Korean and Japanese restaurants around, I'm in heaven! If only my budget would stretch to eating out for every meal. 

I was worried that my last week here would be dull, but I met a great group of people in Taupo a few days ago and most of them are in Auckland for a few days like me. So it's been a lot of fun. Tomorrow I think I'll do the Sky Tower, the southern hemisphere's tallest building, and possibly take a ferry to New Zealand's answer to the Hamptons, Waiheke Island, on Wednesday. 

I've got to enjoy my last few days of freedom before I land in Melbourne and have to find me one of those job things people keep talking about. 

Retracing my Steps

The last few days I've been heading north, following the same path I took a month ago. I stopped for a few days in Wellington and stayed with my family friends again. They were so welcoming and made me feel right at home. So I left feeling nice and refreshed.

Right now I'm in Taupo again. I hopped off the Kiwi Experience bus here because I've got a week left before I leave for Australia and I didn't want to spend the whole week mooching around Auckland. And I did want to explore Lake Taupo more when I was here the first time. 

This afternoon I did the Barbary boat tour out to see the Maori carvings on the cliffside, and that was really cool to see. And there were skydivers jumping above us, which took me right back to when I did my skydive a few weeks ago. It still gives me tingles to remember it. 

Tomorrow I'm planning to do a walk around the lake for a bit, and then I might go to the hot pools, depending on price. 

Although I'm still having a good time and there are some cool people at my hostel, the majority of the New Zealand fun is over now, and I kind of just want to go to Australia. I actually changed my flight a few months ago to give myself extra time here, in case I wanted to hop off and explore somewhere more, and I kind of regret that. But it's better to still be in nice places for a few days than have to cut short plans, and I wanted to have enough time to be flexible. 

I absolutely love New Zealand though. I have to say, a working holiday visa here is an extremely tempting thought.