Mount Eden in Auckland, NZ

Last night we asked our van driver for suggestions of off the beaten path things to do in Auckland on a nice day. We could take a boat to Waiheke Island, visit Hobbitron, or walk up Mount Eden, a dormant volcano which last erupted 15,000 years ago.

While any Lord of the Rings fans reading this will be shocked and dismayed that we did not go to Hobbitron, and anyone who has ever been to Waiheke Island will be disappointed we did not do that, we opted to visit Mount Eden. It is a lesson in what I think of as fun is not always the same as what you think of as fun (and vice versa). I did start to regret not driving in another van to go to Hobbitron, so I booked a tour of the WETA Studios in Wellington. That's for another post. At this point the idea of being in a van for over an hour did not appeal to me. Nor did a 45-minute boat ride to an island known for its wineries and hiking.

As we tend to do, we opted to walk to Mount Eden since it was "only" an hour-long walk, and mass transit included several bus transfers and a complicated set of instructions taking nearly the same amount of time. Along a highway. Following other tourists doing the same thing. Fast forward to the end of our day, we took the train back to the center of town.  

We procured a ten-cent stamp for Bialashu's passport, who now has more stamps than we do because her passport never expires, and there are stamps in it. New Zealand and Australia no longer stamp passports upon arrival at the airport. Boo hiss!

This is about the point when we learned that Don's office decided to deny the PTO they approved in July (before we booked the trip), which he predicted meant he would be laid off when he got home. Spoiler alert: he was.

Back to our first sunny day in Auckland.

Hiking on Mount Eden is my style of hiking -- the paths are paved and well marked. The area inside the fifty-foot cone is considered by the Maori to holy, so you have to stay on the path. Lower down there were some off-road paths we saw students hiking on. The funniest was when a school group of boys in matching navy shorts and sweaters came to a stone fence and they stepped on a rock to climb over it and down to their academy. I was laughing too hard at the sweetness of the moment to remember to take a picture. I had anticipated they would take the sidewalk next to the road that we were using.

Another memory that stands out from that hike is meeting two American women about Ashley's age. The one was dressed for a fashion shoot toting her brand new DSLR Canon camera, the other seemed to be shadowing her to take her picture. Who knows the real dynamic, but it was one of those moments I wish I could look into their futures to see how it unfolds. They just arrived in New Zealand for a year on work visas. I'll bite, what kind of work? They were to work for six months in the hospitality industry, and another six months as migrant farmers working in the fields. My thought looking at the one dressed for a fashion shoot was the only time she has ever picked a fruit was when her mom made her go to the local orchard for mommy and me days. She handed her camera to me and I took some pictures of her and her friend, then she took this great picture of us where for once you can see our entire bodies and the scenery behind us instead of my arm extended as far as possible and us from the shoulders up.

The views of Auckland were stunning. From up here we could see Eden Park, the stadium we were planning to visit in a couple of hours for Art in the Park, as well as the Sky Tower, port, and other places we had visited over the previous three days.

Along with us there were people who drove up to picnic, people walking their dogs (on leashes), a busload of Asian tourists, but mostly local people enjoying the sunshine on this Friday. The notes in my travel book say just the right amount of people.

The views from every angle were like a postcard. 

The crater is behind Don

Hanging out on a nice day

Views of Auckland

The crater without us

The sign saying keep out of the crater--
which people honored

Downtown Auckland

Close up of the Mount Eden section of town

Eden Park, the stadium we were heading to

The Top of Mount Eden

A gorgeous postcard view of Auckland

I also took pictures of flowering trees. As we were there in September, it took a while to wrap my head around it is really Spring and not Fall (or Autumn as the New Zealanders call it). Spring is my favorite season, so I soaked it all up.

The Mount Eden section of Auckland has a charming Main Street filled with cafés and other small businesses, making it the ideal place for lunch. Following the theme from the night before, we dined at a French café. Our waiter moved here from India on a six-month visa. He was super chatty, explaining how people come here and cram up to 40 people in a tiny apartment in order to send money back home. The woman at the register was also from India, but she was quite clear that they were not together. As we paid, she said the truest statement I have ever heard, but in such a practical voice I nearly spit out laughing, "if we talk, we'll just keep talking and not leave." Those weren't the exact words, but certainly the gist. She clearly did not want to make small talk, but politely deflected it back to us.

Chocolate ganache cake

From here it was an easy walk to the stadium. As we had pre-purchased our tickets, all we had to do was show them to be scanned and walk in.