Wednesday, December 23, 2009 Auckland, New Zealand
We have settled into our hotel apartment here in Auckland, and Paula went grocery shopping yesterday. We still eat most of our meals in restaurants - - there are so many fine choices here - - but most days we eat breakfast here in the apartment.
The place is part of the Chifley Suites chain. Ours is very conveniently located right in downtown Auckland. It's a 24-story high-rise of recent construction. There is no air conditioning, but there is a balcony with sliding doors that we can leave open. So far the weather has been mild, staying below 25C during the day and cooling off at night. Australia is in the grip of a heat wave right now (temperatures over 40C is several of the northern cities). We got out just in time!
There is a problem with leaving the balcony door open at night. It's very noisy. Like the center of any big city, there are all kinds of vehicle noises, sirens, and voices of carousing drunks all night long. But the one that takes the cake was this very loud whooshing whining motor sound that went on and on. Paula eventually got up and looked out to see what was making all that racket, and observed a worker walking around with a leaf blower blowing off the sidewalks - after midnight!
Paula did laundry using the combo washer/drier right here in our apartment. It's about a meter high and 3/4 meter wide and deep. It's complicated and difficult to figure out, and there's no user's manual around - - just a rather cryptic instruction sheet posted on the top of the machine. Paula much prefers her washer and drier at home, but they do occupy at least ten times the space of this little thing. And it beats trying to find a laundromat!
Our best option for internet access is coffee shops and internet cafes. Even the convenience stores have an area for computer users for a modest price, around NZ$4 per hour. We tried the free internet at the library, but it was so slow as to be almost unusable. But right next door - - in fact, attached to the library - - was an Esquire's coffee shop that offers excellent high-speed access if you just buy a cup of coffee. It is also a Boingo hotspot, and since we have a Boingo subscription, we don't really even have to buy a coffee, but Tyler does anyway, and Paula likes their scones.
We are just beginning to try the bus system. There is a free city circuit bus that covers some of the area, and there is a Link circuit bus that covers a larger area. There are also many other city bus routes, and a system-wide pass is available for NZ$7.50 per day. Tyler was frustrated that there is no master map showing all of the bus routes for the area, but Paula found a nice set of regional maps that does cover it all in about 6 subsets. So we have identified the route to the Auckland Botanic Garden, and will spend most of a day there as soon as we check the weather report.
Auckland has its own Sky Tower, which they claim is the tallest building in the southern hemisphere. They proudly state that it is 18 feet higher than the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Here are some photos from the top. Note the vertical steel cable in the picture. That's a guide cable for the bungy jumpers who leap off the top, above the observation deck! We caught one of them on video. They say it's quite safe. Even if the bungy cord breaks or you slip out of the harness, the long fall doesn't hurt a bit. The sudden stop at the bottom, though, is a real killer!
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