Auckland to Mangatarata

Yay, after a week in Auckland we finally managed to go for a beer (not cheap = 10 NZ darra). We also bought a van and took it to a mechanic etc. We are now happy as we finally managed to escape from the city into the country. Now we are in Mangatarata  where we are working for accommodation. The work includes dog walking (7 of them), gardening, woodworking, sanding... We spend most of the time working on an old broken yacht which is going to be transformed into backpacker accommodation. In exchange for a couple of hours of work a day, we get to live in a self contained house with a wonderful view of the country side and grazing cows. The landlords are also very friendly -  today for example they took us on a nice field trip to the sea.

Van

Auckland part 2

The weather here quickly changes, at one point it's sunny and hot, then windy and the next minute it's warm and humid. Right now it's raining... In between dealing with formalities we have plenty of spare time. We checked out Mount Eden, one of many Auckland's volcanoes (crater on the picture). We also visited other city's parks. They are all very lush and diverse, filled with funky trees, lakes, all sorts birds begging for food and people playing cricket.
On the way to the zoo we went trough a part of town resembling white-fenced American suburbia, but at least it makes sense architecturally - unlike the central part of the city. The zoo itself was huge and we did not mange to see all of it, since they close quite early (17:30). What we liked were the spacious walk-in cages, where you search for parrots in a dense jungle. And of course we saw the kiwis, which they keep in a dark night time enclosure.

Auckland part 1

OK, so we got to Auckland with our lost and found baggage. Hostel is OK - a bit to steamy, but it will do for a week. Straight after check in and shower we went for a walk through the city's central business district, where all the buildings seem randomly piled one upon another and the streets are cramped with shops, restaurants, cafes... The grass is so green it looks photoshoped. After sleep walking to the hostel, we decided to finish the day early.