Everybody told me that Auckland wasn't too great, nothing special, just a big city. So I had low expectations.. Turns out I really like it. For a city, it's not bad at all! It is big, and so I'm limited in where I'll be able to go in the time I have, but I think I'll be able to do/see a lot still. Like today, I stumbled across two really great little Saturday markets. A French food market, which was amazing. The best food market I've ever been to. All kinds of pastries and breads and dips and cheeses and meats and cakes and coffees and produce! I sampled pretty much everything, and actually purchased a delicious blueberry danish. Walking further into town I stopped at a lot of good little clothing stores. Just to look, I don't think I'll be buying any clothes here. But it was fun. Right around the city centre I went to the Auckland Art Gallery. Beautiful building! Old, with modern updates. Lots of good art. The featured collection was Victorian art, which I'm not really in to, but they had quite a bit of contemporary art and Maori portraits that I liked.
After the art gallery I found Albert Park and sat there for a while, enjoying the sunshine. Great weather, kinda cloudy, but perfect temperature. When the sun came out it felt nice, but got too hot real fast.
From the park, I walked around more of the city. Up Queen Street and down K' Road. Those are the real big streets here. Queen is the main street. K' Road is the funky shopping road, like Haight and Ashbury. Spent quite a bit of time looking around. And then went to the Sky Tower! The tallest structure in New Zealand, and the Southern Hemisphere! Over 1000 ft. I paid $18 to go to the top. It was neat. Great 360 degree views. It really doesn't look that high from the ground, but from the top you feel like you're in the sky. Cool.
I was starving when I got down. But I had to drop off the cheese I had bought in the fridge at my hostel before I could get something to eat, so I walked the 40 minutes back. I had my mind set on having Burgerfuel for dinner. It's like a fancy fast food burger joint. I knew it was kinda pricey, but I worked up an appetite and deserved a good burger. For the bacon avocado burger and sweet potato fried it cost me $17. At a fast food place! This country has lost it's mind. But I will admit, it was one of the best burgers I've ever eaten. I liked it better than Fergburger in Queenstown..
Got back to the hostel and settled in. Another busy day ahead.
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