Auckland Rainy and Cold

What is probably most reflective of our time here in Auckland so far is the lack of photos taken. These two days, we've taken a total of five photos.

Being in Auckland over the weekend probably didn't help as most stores closed early and often the crappy weather made walking around and hiking not fun.

Either that or we should heed the advice of others and get out of Auckland as soon as possible to enjoy the rest of New Zealand.

This morning we changed hotels to All Seasons just down Queen Street on Wyndham. For an extra $10, we got an ensuite, a kitchenette, tv and stereo, a warm room, and a nice view from the 16th floor.

Queens street is where it's all at. We did some window shopping, went to the Internet cafe for four hours, and walked down the Harbour Viaduct.

For lunch we had fast food Indian which was surprisingly good and lasted us until Japanese ramen for dinner. We were hoping to sample some of New Zealand's famous lamb, but didn't find a restaurant that wasn't completely upscale.

The only other thing we did was book a rental car from the iSite official tourist office where they called around for prices on our behalf.

We initially looked into getting a camper van but even the basic ones ran between $75-100. On top of this, we'd have to pay campsite fees, a one way surcharge for Christchurch drop off, and just learned about the $300 ferry between the islands.

Shannon said it was probably a good thing we didn't commit to six weeks in a camper van since we're not big campers to start with. Instead we got a compact car for $28 a day.

What is a little disconcerting is we seem to be spending a lot of money here in Auckland and not actually doing anything. There are the hotels which are about $75 a night, and meals which cost about $30 for both of us. Despite the low NZ dollar, prices are still relatively high here. A 500mL bottle of Coke or water here is consistently $3-4 CAD, continental breakfast is $13, and main attractions like Skywalk and Skyjump from the tower is $120.

We made some plans for the week to visit Bay of Islands and the area north  Auckland, and briefly toyed with the idea of flying to Thailand and coming back to New Zealand when it was warmer. Being spring, we'll miss out on a lot of the water activities I think, which is a major highlight in the guide magazine, but that should be all right since we have a lot of beach destinations later on. There should be plenty of hiking here.