Our Second Day in Auckland

 

We stared our day by walking down to the water, and had breakfast at a marina. After we ate, we looked at the boats before walking back to our place and made a plan for the day.

 

Our plan was to hike the Coast to Coast Walkway which is a hike through the city of Auckland with stops at points of interest. Auckland is a hilly city similar to San Francisco, so we got some really good training in today for our Tongariro Crossing hike the day after tomorrow.

You can see that we hiked 31,361 steps today which is just over 15 miles (with lots of hill work)!

Two parts of the hike we really liked were Mount Eden and One Tree Hill in Cornwall Park. Both Mount Eden and One Tree Hill are built on volcanic cones.

 

 

Here you can see the cone left by the volcano thousands of years ago.

After the hike up to the top, we had an amazing 360 degree view of the city, the bays, and the maritime parks.

After we hiked down from Mount Eden, we hiked another hour to get to One Tree Hill which is located in Cornwall Park. Cornwall Park is a 670-acre park located in the heart of Auckland. It was given to the people of Auckland in 1901 for recreation and enjoyment. It is a gorgeous park that includes a working farm. We were so impressed with the beautiful trees - lots of huge, stately trees with such interesting shapes.

 

 

 

We hiked all way through the park to reach One Tree Hill.

 

 

As we made our climb up to the top, we were rewarded with more spectacular views of the city and surrounding water.

 

 

After making our way down and ultimately back to our place, we are all REALLY GLAD we will have a rest day tomorrow - our bodies are tired! We leave tomorrow to drive to Tongoriro National Park.

 

Posted with Blogsy

"Staying up" in Auckland

After successfully arriving at our first place of lodging in the heart of a busy city (only a few near misses with the left-side driving - THANK YOU Greg!), we knew that we had to STAY UP all day. So we we unpacked a little and then set off to explore Auckland on an absolutely beautiful day.

We first drove a little past downtown to the Mission Beach area where we got out and walked for awhile. You could see the city as well as look out to several of the islands that make up a huge maritime park.

We then drove back to the downtown ferry terminal and took a short ferry ride to Devonport, which is called one of the "oldest suburbs" of Auckland.

Around 40,000 years ago, Devonport originally consisted of three volcanic cones. The earliest Maori settlement dates back to the 1300s around the same time as the believed landing of the Tainui wake - one of the great ocean-going canoes in which the Polynesians migrated to New Zealand.

Because Devonport is an ideal location to see the harbor, it has also served over the years as both a fortress and a seat of naval history. Today, Devonport is a mixture of shops, beaches, history, restaurants, and just home for lots of commuters who live there, but go to work Auckland.

 

We decided to start getting outr hiking muscles warmed up by climbing to the top of Mount Victoria which provides a beautiful panoramic view of Auckland as well as many of the surrounding islands in the maritime park.

 

 

After our climb, we headed down for a stop in a cafe for a beer, and toasted our safe travels to New Zealand and a great first day. After that, we took the ferry back, had some dinner, and headed off to bed.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Arrived at the Other Side of the World!

We've never flown for this far and long before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Our first leg was to Los Angeles where we had a couple hour layover. We boarded the plane headed to Auckland, New Zealand at about 11 pm for a 13-hour flight.

Overall, the flight went okay - just a couple observations. First, after I had successfully dosed a short time, I, thinking we must be getting close, checked the flight map only to learn that we still had 7.5 hours of flying time left! (Like a trip to Europe). Secondly, the plane was brand new - it is amazing how cramped the cabin area seating is - Greg's knees actually hit the seat pocket in front of him. I couldn't easily access anything from my bag belong as it was so cramped. That said, we ate/movie binged our way through the flight. The last several hours, we had some amazing views of the sun coming up. And when we got close to landing in New Zealand, the views were spectacular.

 

 

 

Once we landed, we successfully picked up our luggage and then went to pick up our rental car. Their motto is fitting. Not only the adventure of driving in a busy city on the left side of the road :-), but all the ways we are going to explore this beautiful country!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Leaving for New Zealand

We're at the airport getting ready to leave for Los Angeles. After a couple hour layover, we're off to Auckland, New Zealand! Once we arrive, we'll give you an update from the other side of the world!

 

We're traveling with our good friends, Kevin and Kris, who are our hiking buddies. Already missing our hiking buddies, Tom and Chanda, who had to opt out two weeks ago :-( So sad for all of us!

After working like crazy to do three weeks of course work this last week (for my graduate school program), I'm ready to relax on the long flights. We'll be in touch.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Tramping in New Zealand

Tramping, known elsewhere as backpacking, rambling, hill walking or bushwalking, is a popular activity in New Zealand. We began dreaming of tramping in New Zealand after we took our long hike in the Alps in 2014.












At the end of last summer, we took the plunge, bought our tickets, and began mapping out the specifics.

Right after Christmas, we began training with our packs more seriously. While we won't be hiking as many miles as we did in the Alps, we wanted to be as ready as possible for our hiking.

We are traveling with our hiking buddies, Kevin and Kris.

We are SO SAD — our other hiking buddies, Tom and Chanda, had to withdrawn from the trip two weeks ago due to some unexpected family medical issues. We will MISS them so much and look forward to another adventure with them in the future.

Well, after about 8 weeks of not-too-serious training, I think we're almost ready. Now we're trying to just finish up the final packing details.











We're almost ready for our adventure on the other side of the world!