An Unfamiliar World

Location:

Auckland, North Island, New Zealand

This is it, bye, bye Australia. It may be a very short flight over to Auckland, New Zealand, but the airline we were flying with, ‘LATAM Airlines’ offered us a very good service. The plane itself was very modern and we were all given a complimentary meal. Ryanair, take note! We were a bit anxious going through customs, but thankfully, we didn’t need to be. The officer just glanced at our visa on the desk and didn’t ask for anything else. She simply wished us good luck. Once we got to the arrivals area, I wanted to check out the different mobile plans. Honestly, they are all terrible. Me thinks further thinking will be required. Eventually we stepped outside and breathed our first New Zealand breath. It felt so strange being in a new country and not in Australia. Will we love it? Over the last few years of travelling, we have learnt to embrace everything, which is the way you should be. If you don’t like something, fair enough, but at least give it a chance. You never know, you might be pleasantly surprised! With our heavy backpacks in tow, we thought it would be easier to get a shared private shuttle bus, instead of trying to figure out the public transport. The main problem is that our hostel, ‘Ponsonby Backpackers’ is about 20 minute’s walk out of the CBD so we didn’t fancy getting off the bus and then having to either wait for another bus or walk with our luggage in tow!

When we arrived at the hostel, the reception desk was closed until 7PM. We only had a few minutes to wait so we didn’t mind. Out in the garden, we got talking to this Brazilian guy who was telling us different things about New Zealand and all the cool things that you can do. It all sounds amazing. I am so excited to see everything this beautiful country has to offer. I have always wanted to visit New Zealand, and here I finally am! The next twelve months are going to be epic! Who knows, I might decide to live here permanently like Kerry, my sisters best friend who has been living in Auckland the last fifteen years. Just as I get ready to come over, Kerry decides to move back home to Ireland. Tut, tut, tut! Oh, well, that’s life for you! Given how much I loved Melbourne, if I said no to staying there, I think I will make the same decision when it comes to New Zealand. It’s just too far from home. But, you never know! When it comes to travelling, anything is possible! Life is very exciting!

With not much of a wait, we were finally able to check in to this beautiful double story Victorian designed house, reincarnated as a hostel. The girl at reception being nice, gave us extra Wi-Fi time, which we put to good use. As we left Australia, Jason decided to empty all our bank accounts and get Australian dollars so we didn’t have to pay huge fees each time we withdrew from an ATM over here, and so he opted to get it changed when we arrived into New Zealand. At the airport in Auckland, he wasn’t happy with the rate they were offering and as it is now Sunday evening, there is nowhere to change it. As we couldn’t pay for the hostel in local currency, we didn’t even know if they would let us stay the night. Luckily they did. We just had to leave some Aussie dollars and our passports as a deposit. The worst part of all is that we are in a strange country and we don’t even have money for food! You want to see us raiding the free shelf. Thank God for that free shelf. It really, helped us out. Without, we would have simply starved and my belly was already rumbling.

The people at the hostel are very friendly. The guys staying in our room Florian from Germany is very chatty. He also told us about the different things that you can do around Auckland. Talking to different people about the country makes me very excited for the amazing adventures we are going to have over here, and who knows, we might even do a bit of camping, maybe beside a nice lake looking at the stars in the night sky. It all sounds so wonderful! In the television room, we got talking to Heather, from Liverpool, who works at reception. During our few days at the hostel, we became quite paly. Anytime we would meet her, we would always have nice long chats about everything.

Our first full day in this unfamiliar world began with us trying to sort things out. At the top of our list was to change our money into New Zealand Dollars. We walked all the way up ‘Ponsonby Road’ to the post office to be told that we need to have a passport as ID, which meant we had to walk all the way back to the hostel to grab our passports off Heather and then we had to walk all the way back. On the way, back to the hostel, we made a little diversion and stopped at a fancy organic coffee shop for an energy boost. Eventually, we got our money changed over. The next thing we wanted to do was open new bank accounts. We walked into ‘Westpac’ who we were with in Australia and they told us that the next available appointment would not be for some time. We then went into ‘ANZ’ who could fit us in, in three days. Not ideal, but it is a lot better than what we were told in Westpac. I don’t understand why it takes so long. In Australia, we walked into a branch and the lovely Marilyn could open an account for us straight away. She also helped set up our tax file numbers and invited us over to her house for Christmas! The next thing on my list was new sim cards. It was either ‘Vodafone’ or ‘Spark!’ We decided to go with Spark as they offer more data. Compared to Australia, it is pathetic! The plan we picked only gave us 1GB for the whole month. In Australia, we were getting that every two days. How are we going to cope? The things we take for granted! As the hostel was fully booked, we had to move to a new hostel, ‘BK Hostel’ which is closer to the city but not as friendly as Ponsonby, but the rooms are more spacious, there is a nice TV area that is very rarely used and it is a lot more central. It will do for now! I had no issues with the owner, but Jason didn’t like her! To be honest, she couldn’t make decisions! Oh Well!

Once all that boring stuff was somewhat organised, it was time to start exploring this strange land. We were recommended by Heather to check out this rather fancy ice cream shop called ‘Giapo,’ where all the different ice creams are hidden from sight! They get you to try each of the flavours, you pick which the one’s you like and they prepare it for you, decorating in a way that is fit for a very impressive ‘Instagram’ post. The ice cream is incredible, to die for! You can’t come all the way over here without popping in for the best ice cream experience of your life. Jason discovered his new local, ‘Father Ted’s’ Irish bar. Quite fitting! ‘Cup of Tea of Father?’ The CBD isn’t terribly big. It has some nice parks including ‘Albert Park,’ which is stunning! It is right in the middle of the city, but it feels like you are in a ‘Lord of The Rings’ movie, with all the big, old trees with huge roots showing, with some of their branches covered in moss. And grass, there is grass everywhere, just like home. Growing in the grass are beautiful snow drops. It’s a world away from Australia. I think we are going to like it here. Not being able to go to the cinema for the last nine weeks, we made sure to take advantage of it now! Nothing can beat the feeling of going to the cinema as opposed to just downloading a movie and watching it at home. One of the main attractions in the city is its ‘Viaduct Harbour!’ Let’s just say my camera and I were very happy here! Jason had fun playing with his bottle, from balancing it on his head to trying to catch it! As my mam, would say, ‘He is easily amused!’

During our first weekend in our new home, we did some walking. On the Saturday, we walked over to ‘Auckland Domain,’ a large, old park, not too far from the city. One of the main highlights is the ‘Wintergarden’ which consists of two old Victorian greenhouses with beautiful flowers and a stunning English style garden that forms the main centre piece! My mother would love it. She would be in her element! Probably, the most famous thing here is the ‘War Memorial Museum’ which is on top of an old volcano! Seriously, how cool is that! Myself and Jason refused to go in as it is free for locals and everyone else must pay around NZ$30, such a rip off! How dare they exploit foreigners like that! Am I back in Asia where this kind of behaviour is accepted! I don’t think so! We spent the rest of the day walking around the city, enjoying all the wonderful gardens on offer! Looking for something different to visit, we took a stroll up to the old ‘Auckland Railway Station.’ A beautiful building turned into apartments that would have been one of the main transport hubs for the city!

Sunday was not much different! We spent the whole day again just walking! I reckon we must have covered more ground! Our first stop was ‘Mount Eden,’ famous for containing a large volcanic crater. Climbing to the summit gives you uninterrupted views of it as well as the entire city. What we found fascinating is the number of old trees lining all the streets of Auckland as we look down. From there we walked to ‘One Tree Hill,’ famous for 360º lookout on top of another volcanic cone. Climbing to the top, you are greeted with a large open space of green, green grass filled with sheep and lamb grazing on it! I was feeling very confused; I was unsure if I was back home in Ireland or in New Zealand! It was like we were miles away from the city, in a quite remote part of the country, but no, we are in walking distance to the CBD. Our day finished with some very nice Indian food in ‘Newmarket!’ I do love my Indian food!

Eventually we came around to contacting all the recruitment agencies and registering with them. The following day I had interviews with three of them and one the day after. The hostel we were staying in was, as our friend Kathrin would put it ‘A fu****g joke.’ I asked if I could use the iron as I wanted to get my shirts ready for my interviews. You want to see the size of the board they gave me. I don’t think I have ever seen one smaller! I was looking forward to going back to work. Who knew one would spend so much money travelling for nine weeks! The fun came when I tried to access funds from my Irish account to be told that our only Irish card was cancelled. We had to transfer money from our Irish account to our New Zealand account. And as it was the end of the week, it means we have no money for the weekend! Rations it is so! On a positive, we went to see a house near Mount Eden which is owned by a New Zealand couple! Their house is lovely. It’s only recently renovated with a very nice garden that even my mother would love! The room we would be renting is not huge, but it is big enough with a double bed, a TV and French doors leading out onto a veranda with a hot tub! How posh is that? Champagne and strawberries while enjoying the stars! We were very happy with it and decided to go for it! No more squeaky bunk beds!

While it has taken us a little bit longer to find our feet, I think we are nearly there. The best part is that excitement and passion to explore and discover new things is still inside us and will be until our hearts stop beating! While Jason search job search continues, at least one of us will be able to bring home the bacon. And with our new home, something tells me that next week is going to be a very good week!

And what a good week it turned out to be. Our new home on ‘Lancing Road, Sandringham’ turned out to be a very good find. The owners Val and Gordon are both extremely easy going and very hospitable. It is the complete opposite to Tina’s. They both cannot do enough for us. The house is lovely. It is very comfortable. The best part of all is that there are no rules and no moans especially about our cooking. I would certainly pick this house any day over Tina’s. Both Val and Gordon run a landscaping business, ‘Above Ground Landscaping’ which takes up a lot of their time, which means they are not always there!

As for work, I was lucky enough to find a temp role in Takapuna. I was only there for a couple of weeks. During my stint, they had me cover the whole office for a few days while they all went down to Wellington. I must be very trustworthy or something. After finishing up there, I had an interview the following day for a role with ‘The University of Auckland,’ which I started with the following Monday. I was happy to be back at work almost straight away. I even got to have a nice long weekend. Jason on the other hand decided to take a HR job in South Auckland. Think public transport is bad in Dublin, come over here and you will know all about it. It takes him 2 hours to get to work as he must get several different buses and trains. An absolute nightmare. Of course, his angels were looking out for him again, as Ralf who has been living in the house on and off over the last number of years happens to be working near Jason’s job which means he can give him a lift to and from work. When Jason found out that Ralf will be working there until next February, Jason was delighted. It makes it so much easier for him. Nobody wants to do that kind of commute every day, no matter how good the role is!

While the weather has been very ‘Irish’ to say the least, hopefully, as we move into summer it will improve. Over the last few weeks, we have been very lazy at the weekends! Poor Jason has been exhausted and the bad weather hasn’t helped. We did take a trip over to what is regarded as Auckland’s original suburb, ‘Parnell.’ It’s a quaint little town with a lovely rose garden that my wonderful mother and grandfather would adore!

We may be at the start of our New Zealand adventure but at least we are over the ‘New city/country hurdle’ and thankfully everything is finally going our way! Let’s just hope it stays that way. All that there is left to do is to enjoy this amazing country and all that it has to offer. With Ireland beating the famous ‘All Blacks’ for the very first time, something tells me that this is going to be a very interesting year!

By Andrew

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