All About Auckland 

The past two and a half days I have been in the North Island of New Zealand. The first day I stayed with a friend in Hamilton. Not known for its tourism or anything, but that was where I was able to relax. To rest. Went for a long jog around the riverfront which makes up a huge part of Hamilton.

Spent a night in Hamilton, then my friend drove me an hour north to Auckland. Like I had mentioned before, Auckland is in the North Island and is actually the most populous urban area in New Zealand. Someone I met in NZ told me that 75% of people living in New Zealand are residing in Auckland. Woweeee! 

I took a morning bus tour around the city when I got there. The name of my tour guide was Eric and was a pretty fascinating bloke. His wife is from Vietnam, so he’s lived here along with living in Japan, UK, OZ, and parts of Europe. He also used to be an international pro competitive shooter. He said his specialty was shooting lying down at a two foot target at a distance of 1,000 yards. Pretty impressive. I can barely shoot at a tree stump 20 yards away.

After the tour I ate lunch/dinner at a fantastic seafood restaurant on the Harbor. 

Yesterday was my last official day in New Zealand. My flight from Auckland to Sydeny was to leave at 5:00pm. Since I had time I decided to go to an Aquarium called the Kelly Tarlton’s Sea Life Aquarium. The aquarium is actually underground which is kind of cool. It’s a pretty touristy thing to do but I love aquariums and actually had a lot of fun!

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After the aquarium adventure I went back to the place I was staying, picked up my luggage and headed to the airport. My flight left from Auckland at 5ish pm to Sydney which arrived at 7:30pm. I had to check completely out of the airport, and then check back in with another airline. My domestic flight from Sydney took me to Melbourne, Australia which landed at 11:30pm. I found a really cheap hotel beside the airport and literally stayed in Melbourne for less than 12 hours. 

This morning I woke up at 5:00am to get to the airport to make my flight to Denpasar, Bali. I am currently in the waiting area about to board and head back to Bali once more. I did not think I’d ever find myself back to Indonesia, but due to a hiccup in flight scheduling I am going back! Not the worse place to have a detour. 😉

I had to use the restroom before we boarded, and ran into friends of mine that I met on a tour in Sydney! Small world!

I will be in Bali for three full days, then I head back home to the States. It’s the last leg of the journey, but I am going to stay present and going to enjoy every minute of my second chance in Bali.