The First Two Days - January 29th and 30th

I believe I could rightfully call my first few days in New Zealand my walking days. Having declined the ride offered by my hosts to return me to Lantana Hostel, where I would call the next two days home, (the ride left at 8:00 am and I wasn't inclined to get up particularly early after the previous two days of hell and exhaustion). I figured the extra sleep was worth the $1.60 I'd spend to catch the Link bus across town, especially since I now understood that you had to "ring" when you wanted the bus to stop I couldn't possibly go wrong. Unfortunately, I had no idea where to actually catch the bus so instead of doing the sensible thing and asking someone, I decided to set off walking toward the city center sure I'd stumble across a bus stop sooner or later. It was a beautiful day and having arrived downtown without running across a bus stop I figured I'd just continue right on walking. I literally walked from one side of the city to the other, an approximately one and a half hour journey, dragging my luggage in tow (thankfully sans fifty pound backpack as I'd left it at Lantana the night before knowing I'd be returning there). I arrived at my new home around 1:30 pm and discovered that I was not in the all female dorm I had reserved but a mixed dorm of three girls and two guys. It was small and cramped but clean. Not wanting to spend the day sitting around the hostel I decided to go find Auckland's largest climbing gym.

The climbing gym in question happened to be in a suburb of Auckland called Panmure. I looked up directions from the hostel to the gym and discovered it was 12.1 km away. For the second time that day instead of asking someone where I could catch a bus to take me where I needed to go I decided to just set out walking (I do concoct some of the most brilliant plans) with all my climbing gear, a bottle of water, a camera, and the little money I had to my name. Panmure being rather distant from the main city I also had no map of where I was going, just some scribbled directions off the Internet. Twelve point one kilometers turns out to be almost eight miles (also something I didn't bother to look up when I started out) and so I walked, and walked, and walked...until my feet burned with every step (I hadn't even bothered to wear my sneakers, just my floppy little casual shoes) and my calves were two balls of fire - it being very hilly in and around Auckland. Evening was falling and exhaustion had set in when several hours later I realized that somewhere I'd made a wrong turn (imagine that) and finally out of sheer desperation walked into a convenient store, bought a pear (hadn't eaten all day either) and asked where I could catch a bus back to Parnell. The man's eyes grew to the size of tea saucers when I told him I'd just walked there all the way from Parnell and now wished to return promptly...via bus. I'm fairly sure he was muttering about crazy Americans as I walked out clutching my precious pear in one hand and directions to the bus stop in the other! As I waited for my bus to arrive I consumed my pear eating every last bit of white flesh I could find...it's amazing just how little of a pear can be left when you've walked 9 miles on an empty stomach, I think I momentarily considered eating the stem too (I actually almost made it to the gym I discovered later...but tacked on another mile in the wrong direction just to make it that much better of an experience). Unfortunately for me I was so far outside of Auckland proper at this point the bus didn't run to Parnell but dropped me off about two miles away. I trudged the last two miles of my journey home, grabbed some dinner, and collapsed into bed having walked at least fifteen miles that day!

The next morning the lower half of my body was in agony from the previous days exertions and while there was no chance of me sleeping in due to my five roommates and the rest of the hostels occupants moving about I didn't feel particularly motivated to get out of bed. However, I did force myself to get up when Kristin popped her head through the door at about 8:00 am having just arrived from the States. Unlike me she'd had a perfect trip over having slept soundly for nine of her twelve hour direct fright from LA, not being threatened with jail time or given citations for fruit, being told to have an awesome year in New Zealand by her customs officer (having the exact same documentation as me), and her luggage having been shipped on the next flight so she breezed through inspections with promises of having her luggage delivered at the hostel doorstep in a few hours! She was completely rested and ready to go explore Auckland. Little did she know as we set out my current pension for walking...

We walked from the hostel to downtown, took care of Kristin's banking issues, did a little exploring and decided to check out Mt. Eden, the tallest volcano in Auckland with great views of the city and harbor. We actually did catch a bus to the base of the volcano and only then realized we'd be hiking to the top via cow path. It was a bit of a trek up to the summit but nothing too strenuous...if you neglected that Kristin was wearing jeans and a long sleeve black shirt having dressed for the freezing temperatures she left in New York and not the tropical weather and hot sun of the south Pacific or that I was wearing flip-flops and my legs were threatening to seize up with every step due to the previous day's little walk. We eventually made it to the top, Kristin sweating profusely and me limping, and decided to rest and enjoy both the breeze and the 360 degree views the summit afforded us. We also thought a bit of a tan would be a nice addition to the days activities so Kristin rolled up her sleeves and pants and I stretched out beside her in my shorts and tank top. As we rested I perused my travel guide and discovered that not far from where we were was another climbing gym...I was stoked and convinced Kristin to walk by the gym to check it out with me. For the second time in just over 24 hours I found myself on a very long, very hot walk in search of the elusive New Zealand climbing gym. After walking for just about an hour we found it...I was super excited and rushed inside only to discover that I wouldn't be climbing there after all. Instead of the bouldering and top roping routes I expected I was greeted by walls that lit up, walls that consisted of pipes you could climb, a giant slide, a "death defying jump", blindfolded challenges up poles, and a host of other "adventures" for people who don't actually want to climb...Kristin was far more excited than me and seriously thought about paying $10.00 to try out the slide. Having been thwarted yet again in my quest to climb in this country we set out to walk home. After two hours of walking in the blazing sun (and knowing that we were both sporting painful sun burns on all exposed parts of our bodies) Kristin swore she'd never venture to a climbing gym with me again unless vehicular transport was the method of travel! We eventually hobbled into the hostel, stinking, sunburned, hungry and exhausted. We rested up for a little while and took showers to the relief of our three other roommates. Fittingly we topped the day off with a two mile walk to dinner at Wagamamas and back!