North Shore City

Our hike started at North Shore City, which is north of Auckland CBD.

Town of Devonport

Long Beach

Takapuna

Orewa

Auckland City

We finally arrived to Auckland City on Jan. 12th after 54 hours in transit. The NZ Immigration was a breeze. Auckland is 18 hours ahead of Toronto (EST) time.

Nadi, Fiji Airport

Auckland City

This place reminds us so much of Toronto. There are a lot of Asians in this city. Historic buildings were also mixed with modern commercial buildings, i.e. banks and shopping stores. We are enjoying the remaining summer days in Auckland. The weather is perfect - sunny and breezy. The only drawback we encountered are the prices. Regardless of our strong Canadian currency compared to NZ dollars, the price of basic necessities - food, clothing and housing are horrendous. The fixed mortgage rate is 9%! But then again the average price of a 3-bedroom home is at least CDN$250k. Nevertheless, this country is really incomparable to the last country we were at, the Philippines. So far we have a very positive first impression. Next week we will be tramping to Cape Reinga, Northland...

City Buildings

Myers Park - the garden clock has the actual time.

Sheepskin - so cheap NZ$60 for the big sheepskin. Wow.

Funky Shark Tour bus

The Harbour