Auckland: Day 3 & 4

I quickly realized after talking with other travellers at the meet-up and on the Couchsurfing forums that getting together with other travellers to tour NZ ourselves (my original plan) would not work out since everyone had their own ideas of where they wanted to go and everybody's travel schedule was different (surprisingly there wasn't a single Couchsurfer I met that had a similar schedule to mine) - plus it was really expensive to rent a mini-camper or a car, even split among a couple people. So I was back to square one, trying to figure out how I would be able to get around NZ within my budget, while carrying around my big pack (though a little lighter this time since I left most of my camping gear behind), and without having to constantly rely of hitchhiking or ride shares. Luckily, one of the guys in my dorm told me about Magic Bus, one's NZ's famous hop-on/hop-off bus companies. There are 3 main ones in NZ: Magic Bus, Kiwi Experience, and Stray. I was so glad he told me about this, because it solved all my problems! Basically how it works is you buy a pass for a route or for travel time, and you have the freedom of hopping off at any one of the stop points along the route and exploring wherever you get off for as long as you like (though most passes are valid for only a year), then hop back on the next available bus along the route when you're ready to continue to the next destination. So basically, you could use it just as a way to get from city to city all in one convenient travel pass, or your could stay on the same bus for the entire route and ride it like a tour bus. Without getting too much into it, I chose the Magic Bus because it best suited me - it's used by all travellers, young and old, whereas Kiwi Experience is known as a party bus because all the 18-19 year old British kids use it, who go clubbing every night and sleep on the bus all day (which didn't make sense to me - why travel so far to just continuously party and miss out on NZ's scenery). I actually would have loved to ride the Stray bus, which goes to destinations off the beaten path, but I was carrying way too many electronics with me this time to worry about (if I had travelled with just my DSLR, I definitely would have went with them).

Yup, I'm going to say it again, NZ is a huge tourist trap, and for once, that was actually a good thing, because these companies make it so easy for you to plan your itinerary that it doesn't even feel like backpacking anymore...I'm not sure you could even call it backpacking too. And it wasn't just me, the general consensus amongst the backpackers I met who used the hop-on/hop-off bus companies agreed that it became so easy to get from place to place. Another good thing about the Magic Bus though is that they always have deals for the routes they sell, for the month of November, they had a deal where if you purchased a round-trip route that covered most of the North Island, you could add a similar route set-up for the South Island for $1! This was the one deal I managed to get while in NZ hahaha. So basically, I got a pass that let me see all of NZ (it covered all the places I wanted to see plus a few more) for $440 NZD (about $350 CAD)! They make it easy to plan your trip because they have mandatory stops along the route (where the bus stops for the night) and their "guidebook" conveniently lists all the hostels they recommend and the activities you can do (at least the one's they're affiliated with and thus have some discount) at each stop...so I think "tourist trap" is pretty clear now.

So after purchasing the pass, I headed to a big Starbucks in the CBD (yeah, they're everywhere) where I planned to just relax with a coffee and use their free wifi to plan out the rest of my trip. Well I found out a few more things about NZ - the wifi wasn't free like it is at the Starbucks here (and in fact I would learn there is basically no free public wifi all over NZ - like I said, doing almost anything costs money in NZ), the coffee at Starbucks is ridiculously expensive (on par with Japan's Starbucks), and after planning out my trip and getting a rough estimate of my costs (which is the first time I did this for any of my destinations), was way more than my budget could afford. So expensive that after spending the entire afternoon in the Starbucks, the first thing I did back at the hostel was arrange to have my plane ticket changed so that I could leave NZ in about a month, instead of the original 2-3 months I had planned. Plus, I realized that even with my working holiday visa, doing farm work or other grunt work wouldn't be worth my time (I'd rather head back home sooner and look for something I can put on my resume later on). The one good thing about this afternoon was the Gingerbread Latte I ordered (I knew it wasn't available at the Starbucks in Canada during Christmas season) was actually pretty good hahaha.

And that was pretty much day 3 - pretty boring. Like I said, not much to do in Auckland (especially if you're on a budget).

The next day (after waking up after 10am...the beds were really comfy!) I met up with with a fellow Couchsurfer who I had originally been talking to about travelling around NZ together fora few days, but our travel plans didn't work out in the end. But we met up for lunch and coffee anyway and just shared travel plans and stories and hung out around the city for the afternoon.

Having a green tea chai latte(?!?) at a coffee shop in the yellowish brown brick building (the photo is in the previous post) across from the main bus hub (which is actually referred to as the Britomart). The coffee (though expensive) was actually pretty good!

While chatting after finishing our coffee, we noticed that some ad people were passing out free buckets of what looked like ice cream just outside the building, so we rushed out to grab a bucket each ourselves hahaha. It turned out to be probiotic yogurt that they were trying to promote! A rare freebie!

I obviously couldn't finish the yogurt before I left Auckland - I just left it for others in the dorm.


A box of Japanese ice cream mochi snacks I picked up from a Korean supermarket near the hostel (like I said, lots of Asian immigrants in Auckland). It reminded me of Japan so I had to buy it hahaha. I think the flavours were vanilla, sweet potato (I forgot the Japanese name for it), and green tea.

And that was it for me in Auckland! The next day, I was going to set off on the Magic Bus to see the rest of NZ. You'll notice that I didn't comment about the food in Auckland, because there wasn't anything spectacular or unique about it. It's pretty much standard Western fare. The whole time I was in Auckland, I either ate at a fast food joint or a fast food court to save money...not the greatest diet, but there's not much choice when you're on a budget. To anyone planning to visit Auckland on a budget, I would recommend the Asian fast food courts over the fast food joints though - you'll get more for your dollar, and at least you'll be able to get some veggies.