by Mandeep Gaygoat
When we go to places, what I love is getting out early and just watching people in their everyday activities rushing to work, college, or wherever they are going….in this town you are mainy backpacker watching! There will be backpackers waiting for the early bus or moving from hostel to hostel. Also I noticed quite a lot of Sikhs another miserable lot, when you say Sat Sri Akal, you just do not get any response! Crazy and we are suppose to be able to approach one another with open arms!
by Mandeep Gaygoat
After a very relaxing morning, we used the time to book a car rental from Auckland to Christchurch this was through Josh at Base Travel at the hostel. nice guy with lots of piercings! We went for Jucy Rentals, the car group we used is called ‘el Cheapo’ just hope it does the job!!! We popped out to Loving Hut for lunch, as well as great food this restaurant also has free wifi a luxury in Auckland! After a fantastic lunch, Sangeet had Singapore rice noodles, I had lemon ‘chicken’ with a portion of ‘duck’ (yes, it was that good!) and chinese half jelly for dessert, we used their wifi to call family in Rotorua, send several emails and book our WWOOFing work in the South Island! We spent about four hours in the restaurant, this was just eating and using their wifi! When we left I was hungry!!
We had a wander around downtown including the malls and went to see the ferry terminal….we then walked up Queen Street towards the library…..we noticed that there are a lot of smokers here, it is just impossible walking without inhaling a lung full of cigarette smoke! Met an interesting guy called Anand at the library. He has lived here for a few years and was telling us about the growth of the Sikh community.
I also noticed how people mostly just do not smile, you smile and usually people smile back, here in Auckland, not many do. A lot of people seem to think they are really stressed here, maybe that is why so many of them smoke!
Once we got to the library we logged on but found the Internet VERY slow. Internet speeds have been around 400kb download and 80kb upload…..painfully slow especially when you have a lot of pictures to upload.
Afterwards we walked Queen Street, there was an an opening speech in the plaza area (Aotea Square) followed by a variety of open air performances. At first they had some majorettes / dancers then had a couple of actors pretending to break out of a prison. Both very good performances. We left during a solo performance by a girl. We then walked to Dosa Plaza where we shared a starter (paneer tikka and naan) and I had a masala tea. For mains we went to another restaurant called:
Basilicum
M17, Elliott Stables
41 Elliott Street
Auckland
New Zealand
e: [email protected]
w: www.basilicum.co.nz
t: 09 379 2710
Elliott Stables is a building with many different restaurants and common dining area, this restaurant is lacto vegetarian (also they do not use garlic or onions) we had pakoras which were very nice and crispy tofu with cucumber and crushed peanuts which was okayish, a bit of a boring dish. There drinks are very good. Sangeet ordered a very berry smoothie which was delicious and I had another masala tea!
Afterwards, we walked to the hostel and relaxed in the lounge area whilst our clothes got a much needed wash in the hostel laundry.
By the way the daytime temperature is 17 degrees C and drops to about 10 degrees C at night……for me this is VERY cold!
by Mandeep Gaygoat
There are a number of ways to get from Auckland airport to downtown Auckland:
1) Taxi, nice and easy and will take you to your destination but it will cost you NZ$70.00
2) Shuttle, depending on how many people are traveling can work out cheap
3) Airbus, will cost NZ$16 for a single trip and will drop you off downtown.
4) Bus to the train station and then train town downtown Auckland,total cost NZ$3.80
We only found out about the bus and train option later in the day, we took option 3 the airbus and got off at stop 3, we had booked into XBase hostel, a room, with no window cost NZ$65.00 it would have cost NZ$75.00 with a window, at the time I thought who needs a window!?!!
As we arrived there was the usual formalities fill out the registration form and give a NZ$20.00 room key deposit. We arrived at 12:30 and check in opens at 1pm so we waited in the foyer. This place feels more like a business then a cosy hostel, I know hostels are there to make money but they also have the homely atmosphere, this is what is missing here.
After checking in and leaving our luggage in the window less room, which felt strange, we headed out to lunch. Sangeet found a fantastic vegan restaurant called
Loving Hut
61 Victoria Street West
CBD
Auckland
New Zealand
T: 09 303 2531
w: www.lovinghutnz.com
World vegan world peace
The restaurant is 3 minutes walk from our hostel. At first I was not looking forward to it, thought I would be cold salads but as soon as I found out they do fake meats I was very happy. Sangeet ordered sweet and sour tofu, I ordered roast duck, they had this down to a tee, it was perfect! The ‘duck’ had the fatty texture, if the restaurant did real meats alongside the fake meats I would have questioned asking if they had brought out the real duck!!
After lunch we walked past the Skytower, a tall impressive building in downtown Auckland which has a restaurant, people also sky dive from the top or you can do a sky walk around the edge of the tower. We were last here seven years ago and do not remember the surrounding area being so built up. We then had a walk around downtown to get our bearings, the library offers free wifi so we popped there, we are looking to do some WWOOF work (organic farming) whilst here in New Zealand, Sangeet registered us and contacted some hosts and posted our listing whilst I uploaded some pictures, unfortunately it kicked me out as soon as I exceed the 100 mb limit. Whist here we have found the internet pretty slow, also in Auckland there are very few spots it is free!
We spent 3 hours in the library and decided to go out for dinner, whilst walking a white New Zealander Paul said Sat Sri Akal to us, then asks Sangeet if it is usual for Sikh women to wear a turban, he said he knew about Yogi Bhajan and the women in that community wear turbans but thought that was all, he then gave us some information on Yogi Bhajan! We said we were familiar and that we were both Kundalini Yoga Teachers, the chaps name was Paul and we stood on the corner for half an hour chatting. He is pretty knowledgable about eastern philosophy for a westerner. All of a sudden Nolan walks around the corner, we met Nolan in Rarotonga. Nolan was WWOOFing with Doug, the coconut guy. It felt odd seeing Nolan in a built up city after meeting him in remote and relaxed Rarotonga! We decided to go to dinner together and popped into Dosa Plaza where we enjoyed good food and conversation. Nolan is inspiring, he just left high school and wanted to see the world through different eyes so decided to travel the world alone, all at the age of 18. Listening to Nolan and his experiences we can sense how he is being protected and guided during this amazing adventure he is on.
by Mandeep Gaygoat
The Swiss Army knife was a 21st birthday present from my chahchaji (uncle) at the time I was getting presents like money so as soon as I got the knife I never appreciated it, it was chunky and heavy. How wrong I was this knife travels everywhere with us, it is the most essential peace of kit I have ever had. Pucha chahchaji has travelled well and knows exactly what will come in handy, just goes to show your elders always know best. Thank you Pucha chahchaji for a very valuable gift.
by Mandeep Gaygoat
We have arrived in Auckland, unfortunately there are very few free wifi spots! We have plenty of posts and pics to upload, please bear with us!
Just looking for accommodation……..
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