Sheep Luv Tour 2008 - Day One Continued...again

Ant reminded me to mention the fact that Auckland Airport was fairly retro (80s style), had oppressive air conditioning and had a lack of "customers" - hence it was really quick getting thru customs and immigrations.

Ant had booked a Corolla from Hertz (they Hertz harder) for a few days so we could make our own way from Auckland (near the top of the Nth Island) to Wellington (south of the Nth Island). Of interest - a couple of weeks ago - we had hired a new Corolla (as the advertising goes - the "Hottest Corolla Ever!") - but if it was the hottest corolla ever - it wasn't saying much about any of the Corollas that have proceeded it. It drove like a tank (probably would flip like a 4WD) and felt cheap and nasty - more so than my "Hottest Pulsar Ever".

Fortunately - we had a earlier model of the "Hottest Corolla Ever" and it handled better than the "Hottest Corolla Ever" - so "Hotness" doesn't really equate with "Quality" - although Ant wasn't such a big fan of the fact that the car had done 40000 Kms - quite a bit for a hire car. Damn u hertz!

We made our way from the airport and I was playing "navigator" with the fold out paper Auckland St map - trying to channel my orienteering skills from year 5 at school (or lack of orienteering skills). I was also playing "radio nazi" - trying to pick thru all of Auckland's 58 urban music channels. Damn u bad NZ R&B music!

It was about a 25 min or so drive to the Hotel which was sort of on the outskirts of the CBD. We had booked a couple of nights at the Quest on Nelson - one of those fully furnished apartments. It was pretty big - a one bedroom unit with a lounge room (complete with windows facing onto the next door apartments) and a laundry/bathroom (complete with windows facing onto the next door apartments)... u like 2 watch don't u...!

Feeling a little peckish - we head into town to get some lunch. Ant hsa this knack of picking the way through the seediest areas of places. We walked next to one of those Homeless Missions - complete with funky junkies - obviously a highlight of Auckland.

The main street (ironically called Queen Street - which is the same main street in Brisbane... which has a lot of similarities with Auckland) was a bit of a bomb-site. Basically the whole main street was being ripped up and re-sealed. This was a bit of an ongoing theme in NZ. Something striking down the main street was the overabundance of Australian shops in NZ. JB's, Katmandu, Westpac, Billabong, Supre... Although Queen St strangely had a "Wendy's" fast food chain - something that Australia does not have (not that we want it anyway)... There was also the big Sky Tower (which wasn't built last time I had visited Auckland) - which is affiliated with Sky City (aka cheesy casino at Sydney) - and I'm guessing it is Australian owned or something.

Ant having been a visitor twice before to the shores of NZ) headed in the vague general direction of where he thought Auckland's eat street was - but instead we found Auckland's "Irish Pub" street. Because our stomachs had the better of us - we settled for one of the Irish Pubs for lunch. I had a lasagne and Ant had a hamburger and we both had a pint of some NZ beer (so beginneth the NZ drinking...). Everything was genuine 1997 prices - 12 NZ pesos for the lasagne (which you need to divide by 1.15 to equate it to Australian pesos - which i needed a calculator). The food was good and so to the beer.

We wandered back to Queen Street and Ant had to go to the Britomart. No - it isn't a Tesco owned supermarket - rather Auckland's new/flash train station. Yes - Ant is a trainspotter and he had to complete his "Trainspotting" experience (after seeing the junkies near the mission) by going to a train station. Ant got a bit of a thrill after the Britomart. Because I was feeling somewhat tipsy after the pint of beer - I helped myself to a cornetto (so beginneth the NZ bad eating). It was genuine 2003 prices.

I finally convinced Ant to leave the Britomart and do something else - so we headed to Auckland Harbour (which was pretty much a stone throw away from the Britomart). The harbour was pretty - but it ain't no Sydney Harbour...~! We walked along a wharf to get a better perspective of both the harbour and the city. We both sort of noticed that it feels a little more economically depressed than Australia. The wharf was full of empty shops and for lease signs. Even the Hilton felt a little ghetto 80s-style.

We wandered around the nearby (what I dub Auckland's) Cockel Bay - a Darling Harbour-esque swag of ritzy restaurants - at genuine 2004 Darling Harbour prices...! Neeocye!

Feeling a bit lethargic (damn qantas for getting me up at 4:30am!) - we both head back to the hotel where I crash for an hour or two. Ant, being the avid tourist that he is, decides to hit streets for a bit more of a mosey around the place.

NZ TV was a little on the bizzaro side. They seem to import a lot of Aussie shows - they were about 2 weeks behind Australia with "So You Can Think You Can Dance Australia" (damn I hate u Natalie Basingwaithe you talentless whore!) and about 8 months behind Australia with "Chasers War on Everything" (APEC episode)... Plus the reception at Quest on Nelson was a little bizzaro or non-functional at times.

To Be Continued (when I can be stuffed writing this..~!)