Summer is here!

December 3rd, 2002 at 12:00am

Been in New Zealand one week today already. Tomorrow I am heading out of Auckland (finally) and going south, to a national park in the central part of the North Island for some hiking, or tramping as they call it in New Zealand. I’ve had an incredible time staying at Rebecca’s and I’m so grateful to her for giving me a home for a week. Over the weekend she took me to a few of the hills in Auckland which are actually dormant volcanoes (there are 12 of them IN the city!) for a perfect view of the city and harbour.

The America’s Cup is happening in Auckland now, and the town is buzzing with all the crew and sailboats and hype. One night we went down to the Viaduct at the waterfront where all the team camps are as well as a string of trendy bars along the wharf. It was fun to watch all the big shot America’s Cup boys flash their special bar tab cards to the bar tenders. A’scene’ for sure.

On Sunday Rebecca drove us out to Hot Water Bay where her parents own a B&B, and after I stopped gaping over their absolutely stunning house, we walked along the beach and then went back to have lunch with her parents, Gail and Trevor. Hot Water Beach is rather unique in that there are natural hot springs under the sand on the beach, so it’s a famous spot for people to dig their own hot tub in the sand and sit in the natural hot springs. Pretty cool! We didn’t dig a tub but we dug our feet down just enough so I could feel the heat. In the afternoon we left to make the 2.5-hour drive back to Auckland.

Yesterday while Rebecca was at work I ventured into downtown Auckland for the first time to check out Queen Street, the main shopping street in town. It was really exciting to be in Western shops with normal sizes!! (I’m still re-adjusting from my culture shock coming from Asia.) Did a bit of shopping to replace some of my tattered traveling clothes, and then I went over to the Sky Tower and up to the observation deck for another great view of the city.

Today I’ve been packing and organizing and getting ready to hit the road again. The first day of summer here was Sunday (Dec 1) and this whole week the weather has been perfect ?C bright sun, warm (but NOT humid!), and blue sky, and now that I am finally away from the equator there is much more sunlight in the day and a much longer dusk. Here it’s getting dark around 9pm, and Thailand it was 6 o’clock every day, like someone flicked a switch. Hard to imagine that I was living in the tropics for the past year really. Just before I left Bangkok they had the Bangkok Marathon, and get this, they started the race at 3:30am to avoid the worst of the heat! No joke! The pictures of the winners were at 6am and it was still dark outside! It really WAS hot there! And now being out of the humidity is such a treat. I’m enjoying it fully. Even if it is strange to hear Christmas songs like’let it snow, let it snow, let it snow’ when you’re shopping for bathing suits in the warm temperatures of the summer. It’s all part of the experience.

America Cup in Auckland on New Zealands North Island

One of the hills near Auckland

Hot Water Beach

Entry Filed under: Auckland,New Zealand