M-whY

I took the Airbus ($18 NZ, less if you have a YHA card, which I don't) to downtown Auckland. I checked into the Auckland International YHA for the night, at $29 NZ a night. Though tired, the excitement of being in a new place gave me enough energy to go out for a walk. Downtown Auckland is just like any other North American city, with skyscrapers, office buildings, and stores along the streets.

Except for the massive asian population. In some areas, asians outnumber the caucasian and native Maori people. Everywhere, store signs are written in japanese, korean, and chinese. At times, I felt as if I was in Asia already.

Walking down Queen St, the main artery in downtown Auckland, I passed Aotea Center and the Civic Theater. I got myself an Oporto burger (the best burger I've ever eaten) and I headed for Queens Wharf to inquire ship times for the next day. Afterwards, I hopped on a free bus (they're all over the place, bright red buses with the words "Free Bus" written in the front) for a mini tour of the city. I got off at Albert Park, and where I got a decent shot of the skytower before continuing on.

I passed a Japanese man performing blues on the streets. See? Even the street performers are asian!

The man pictured above turned out to be Ryoji Niwa. An immigrant from Japan, he had been performing in the streets for quite a while. People in Japan don't appreciate the blues, he said, so he had moved down to New Zealand where his music might be better appreciated. Club and bar owners took note of his talent, and several had offered him regular jobs, but he preferred working unconventionally, playing on street corners, and selling hawking his own CDs. He was so good that I almost purchased a CD myself.

At 8pm, I met with Don, someone I had met on an internet travel forum. We were both arriving in Auckland the same day, and staying roughly the same number of days, so via email, we had agreed to meet up at the YHA. Everyone I had met told me to rent a car if possible in New Zealand. Renting was only cost effective if two people shared the costs, so Don and I had were going to see if we had similar activities in mind.

We went over what we wanted to do and what our budgets were. An hour later, we were both about to collapse from exhaustion, so we agreed to meet up again the next day to get price quotes from car rental companies.

Thanks to everyone for their support and comments! Knowing people are reading keeps me motivated to continue the updates!