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Days 16 & 17: Auckland

 Up early (my favorite), I checked out of my hotel in Sydney and got an Uber to the airport. The check-in and security took a little longer this time due to the fact that I would be flying internationally and that New Zealand has stricter immigration procedures than Australia. However, I still had plenty of time to wander around and spend my last bit of Australian cash and even ran into one of the SMC group that was flying home. 

The flight to NZ was around 3 hours, and they are 2 hours ahead of Australia so despite leaving at 10am, I arrived around 3:30pm and then had to go through customs and bio security. The customs part was not hard - they have electronic passport machines similar to Sydney - but bio security took longer. Because I had been volunteering with wildlife I had to declare I had been in contact with them and got put through an extra check of my ‘contaminated’ items. All in all it was about an hour before I was ready to leave the airport in my rental car. 

Here in NZ I will be driving myself around so that I can see as much as possible and not have to wait for a public transit schedule or uber. Having spent 2 weeks in Australia with people driving on the left, it’s not that part that’s hard, but rather sitting on the right side of the vehicle while I do it! The gear shift is on the left and my turn signal is on the right and these two things are more difficult to adjust to than driving on the left. 

As it was getting late, I headed straight to my hotel in Auckland which is absolutely amazing. Hands down the fanciest hotel I’ve stayed in (thanks mom and dad!) with a room bigger than my brother’s studio apartment in NYC (sorry CJ). After checking in, I walked around the area to see what’s what. There are lots of cute little bars and restaurants, but not all of them are open since it is a Sunday night in their winter season. 




In the morning, I had breakfast downstairs in one of the hotel’s restaurants and then ventured back outside to walk around the harbour area and see what might be open during the day. I walked around Aotea Square, saw the sky tower up close, and even walked past the cathedral of St. Patrick & St. Joseph. 




Next, I checked out of the hotel and headed to the Auckland Zoo. It was very quiet at the zoo, with a few families milling around and most of the animals awake and visible. The highlights were seeing the elephant doing her exercises with the trainer, the orangutan habitat, and of course the Kiwi habitat. 

It was lightly misting so most of the orangutans were hiding under trees, but one was spotted at the top of their tower under a blanket!

The Kiwi habitat was unique because it was indoors and very dark. At first, I could hardly see a thing and was very nervous to walk through for fear of bumping into someone, but eventually my eyes adjusted and I was able to spot 2 of the 4 kiwis rummaging around for food. I was lucky to be in the exhibit at the time of the keeper talk, so I got to learn more about the Kiwis and watch her feed them. 


After the zoo, I headed south west toward my first AirBnB. I was staying on a farm in a studio apartment. The farm raises cattle and sheep and was a beautiful setting with the most comfortable bed of the trip!



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