And it is cold!
We arrived in Auckland, New Zealand, on 12 May 2019. Jet lag was real. And so were my swollen ankles. But once this wore off, we were set on exploring town. It felt like we entered another universe. All along the road we observed stationary bicycles and scooters. We were informed that these are called e-bikes and e-scooters (‘e’ means electronic). Locals ‘hire’ these transportation devices, and once they have reached their destination, where ever it might be, they simply leave the it next to the road. Then you get your good Samaritan, or possibly just a money-hungry person, who so kindly fetches the scooters, charges it, gets paid a stipend and places it back on the street… They are called ‘juicers’… Weird. If you were wondering, like we did, these bicycles/scooters do not get stolen.
Another jaw-dropping moment was observing the great orderly fashion in which people march across the street once the light turns green for them. For some, this might seem like standard road rules, but if you are from South Africa, you will understand that people cross the street where ever and when ever… Anthony still does.
We were introduced to a hardware store, called Bunnings. I dubbed it ‘bunions’, but the sense of humor was not so greatly welcomed. Anyway, it has a coffee shop and apparently, this is like the place to get a great coffee. Laugh! Well, little did I know, that ‘bunions’ and I would connect supernaturally over coffee and tools. Let’s leave that there for now.
To wrap up our time in Auckland, Anthony and I did a tour to the aquarium. He was intrigued by the history and I just wanted to see all the animals. I made him drive on the free Shark bus with me. Got to explore everything that is free right? Probably another South African mindset. We loved Auckland, and its diversity of people. But, the time came for us to find our bus to Hamilton. Our new to-be home.
Our Hamilton adventures to follow.
Cheers, for now.
Lorraine
Short Snippets from the Burgers 