The City of Sails

Well let's just say I've had better days... Auckland is a fun place and I got to see some really neat things, but the buses here hate me! One of them never showed up, and then another time a city bus drove right past me despite my best attempts at flailing my arms violently and stopping just short of running out into the middle of the street! Oh well, I guess it's not called the City of Buses for a reason! It is called the City of Sails though, and I couldn't get out on a sailboat cause it's "too" cold. Bummer. I was rather unimpressed by the overall look of Auckland, but the feel of New Zealand is pretty cool. I find the people to be much kinder than those in Australia, especially for the biggest city in the country! Rightfully so, they're motto is "The big little city." That's exactly how it is... there are all these neat little pockets of town with their own themes... hippie road, drag queen road, yuppie neighborhood, shopping district, etc. As the lady at my hostel put it, "Aucklanders don't really come downtown, they hang out in their sections of the city... so go out and see the real Auckland." And that I did! One of my favorite activities today was taking the ferry across to Devenport and climbing Mt. Victoria (a hill really, challenging on the calves none the less, but not really a mountain)! It was a great little town, I wandered around, stopped at the local bakery for a rasberry cream cheese muffin, and then climbed up for the view of the city skyline across the harbor! I also got to go up in the Sky Tower... the most visited tourist attraction in New Zealand I've been told... they have everything from glass floored lifts (elevators), the highest viewing platform in the Southern Hemisphere, wire base jumping, climbing the needle at the very tip top, a revolving restaurant, etc. It was a great view and pretty fun to walk on the glass floors etc. but it was a bummer that the base jumping was SO expensive otherwise I for sure would have given it a go! Oh well, it was little weird the tower being in the middle of the city and just there for the sake of jumping off of something!
All in all, I did laundry tonight, so that has to make it a good day... CLEAN clothes for the first time since Sofia so lovingly did my laundry for me! :) Had some more noodles for dinner and a shower, so now it's time for bed!
Best quote I've seen in a long time "Go out in to the world and do well, but more importantly go out into the world and do good." LOVE IT!
Kate