NZ Road Trip #2: Auckland

The journey begins.

I met my friends in Auckland, for a big start. I was the last one arriving from Sydney, just on time to catch one of the last mini vans driving into the city. We had decided to stay in a centric hostel, since we were not planning to stay many days in Auckland - there are hundreds of hostels around Queenstreet (which is pretty much the center of all the happenings), with quite similar price ranges.

We decided to pick BASE Auckland - it's big, centric, with many facilities and is probably one of the best options to party. We stayed in one of the top floors and had an amazing view of the skyscrapers! The hostel has its own bar in which they offer specials every night: free pizza, drinks at 5 NZD (about 2.5 EUR), ladies night, games night...

Our first night out we tried finding some local bars and pubs. There were some nice places in Vulkan Lane, a small pedestrian street located perpendicular to Queenstreet. People start drinking quite early - so when we finished dinner, people were already heading to the clubs. The clubs we found were located near the Waterfront (some are a little picky about the dresscode, maybe because it was weekend...).

After our first big night out, we woke up the next day ready to walk around Waiheke Island, taste their wine, visit their beaches, and try out some of the famous hiking tours! However, when we got out of the hostel, it started raining. No, raining is not really the word... it was more like the Apocalypse! As a reasonable alternative, we decided it was probably the best day to learn something about New Zealand - geography, history and its flora and fauna - we went to the Auckland Museum. It's definitely worth a visit to learn about maori culture and about the many volcanoes that shaped New Zealand - Did you know that Auckland lies over 50 volcanoes and not all of them are extinct?

After some hours wandering around, the raining ceased and we decided to take a afternoon - evening shot from Auckland's skyline. Therefore, we took a short ferry that brought us to Devonport. It has one main road on which you can find several nice cafes and restaurants with local wine and beer as well as some good and cheap food!

Later on, when back to Auckland city itself, we gave a try to the hostel bar which ended up to be a very funny night, again. My only recommendation: don't waste your time on ordering gin tonics or vodka lemon, as cheap as it might seem, generally, the wine and beer is much more worth it!!!