New Zealand Day 9 (8 April 2018)

My mom told us about going to the French Market in Auckland a few tim s before we left Tahiti, and wanted to make sure we didn’t miss it. So, I figured out it was only 1.5 miles to walk from the apartment. What I didn’t realize was Auckland was built around 48 volcanoes, and wither you were going uphill or down. There aren’t very many flat places where we walked, but the walk was beautiful!

This was the second hill we climbed. Had we known there were so many hills, I would’ve worn my knee brace. 😅

We walked through Albert Park on our way, and it was a park you wish you had just down the street from you so you could relax in it every day. There were huge trees, gorgeous flowers, a pretty fountain, and green grass to hang out on in between the walkways. 

We walked through the University of Auckland’s campus too. It was an eclectic mix of buildings, that worked together to give the campus a unique feel. Some of them were older, and some were newer, but it was pretty everywhere we went. It was also sort of flat on the campus, so we were grateful that we had a slight respite. However, coming down from the campus almost made me cry. I counted 45 stairs in a pretty short distance. After that was done, we had the opportunity to hike up a giant hill. When we turned to go down the correct street and we saw it was another hill to walk down (and then back up), we almost gave up the idea to go to the market all together. 

I recognize I may be a French Market snob, since I have a few preconceived notions about how they should be, or at least the ones I’ve visited several times in France. However, when we walked in, I wasn’t super happy we had walked up and down hills for this experience.  But, I was pleasantly surprised at some of the food choices. It seemed like they should’ve called it a gathering of eating establishments with some produce and breads mixed in.

We made the best of it, and decided to eat lunch at the market. I had probably the best croque monsieur I’ve ever eaten in my life. So, that was a major plus!

It wasn’t easy coming back, but the distance seemed shorter, since we knew where we were going this time!    We definitely went over our 10,000 steps mark for the day. However, my knee was not super happy with the hills. My Fitbit thinks I climbed 57 flights of stairs. I think a more accurate number would be 1,057 flights. 

After making it back, we decided to go to the grocery store around the corner from the apartment. It was a Chinese market, so they had some interesting options like red bean milk ice bars and Aloe drink. Did we buy both of them to try?  Yes we did! 

The aloe drink tasted like a melted grape popsicle, which was pretty good. The red bean popsicle was surprisingly sweet, but had the consistency of chalk. I only ate a few bites of it.

After my parents arrived and they started their own laundry, we headed over to the Sky Tower. It cost $29 New Zealand Dollars (NZD). It was pretty amazing to learn new information about it and watch the sunset too!

I learned there are 1.5 million people in Auckland, which is 1/3 of the population of New Zealand. Also, Auckland is called the ‘City of Sails’ from all of the boats that are here. 

The Sky Tower is the largest free standing building in the Southern Hemisphere!  It also weighs roughly the equivalent of 6,000 elephants and can reportedly withstand an earthquake of 8.0 on the Richter Scale.  The view was impressive everywhere you looked.   That pink line is a pedestrian walkway with some interactive lights!

We looked into bungee jumping off the tower, but it was $225 NZD. Then we looked into the Skywalk, where you’re strapped into a harness and walk around on a ledge surrounding being the sky tower with no railings. However, that was $150 NZD, so we didn’t do it either. We did get to see people experiencing both though!

The sunset was beautiful to watch. There’s just something about pausing to watch the skies being painted different colors every few minutes!  It seems like there is someone trying to perfect the colors of the sky. It was an early evening for everyone!  I’m excited to see what tomorrow brings!