Chapter 2 and 3: Auckland city

07/12/19

I arrived in the magical land of volcanoes, fiords, beaches and hobbits! According to my lonely planet, Paris might be the city of love, but Auckland is the city of many lovers. I think that statistically might be an overestimation since the country only consists out of 4 million people, yet everyone is very friendly and enthusiastic. First 2 days in Auckland to sleep off the jetlag. This city is, the largest of New Zealand, is literally build on volcanoes and its multicultural make-up shows the large diversity in food, culture and people this country has to offer. After talking to friendly New-Zealanders in the airplane, it got my first credit card declined when trying to take the bus to the city center. Oh dear, I come all the way from Belgium of the world and they don’t want my moneyz. Luckily my card is not declined when taking money from the ATM so loaded with what seems to be monopoly money I head into town.

The city feels like Montreal, Canada. Large building on different large hills which completely smoothens out when progressing to the seaport. Oh fuck, you don’t want to miss a turn here, especially since I packed waaaaaaaay to much shizzle to walk very far. I hop of the airport bus shuttle and set my first steps towards the City Lodge hostel where I leave my stuff behind. I head further into downtown. I must admit, Auckland is not a very nice city and most of the buildings feel kinda ugly. Nevertheless, the city is buzzing with people and smaller events are happening at different locations. My first walk ends in the ferry port where giant cruise ships enter and leave New Zealand. I happened to stumble upon the Maaslander leaving, a spectacle of people singing from and towards the ship, apparently a token of good faith and a safe voyage. I hope to take some luck with my on my maiden voyage through this country. Sitting at the dock of the bay seems to be the appropriate song for this purpose (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTVjnBo96Ug).

I end up at local night market in the shadow of Auckland prominent sky tower. Here different Asian stalls are presenting all sorts of delicious foodies. The smells remind me of the local restaurants in Myanmar and indicate I should be able to find something for my liking. After some great food I head further into town to let my Sigma 16 mm Fn 1.4 do the work. This lens should allow me to capture light in darkness, so here I come.

After the session of tonight it is clear I need more practice more my photo as well as my artistic skills. In other words, I suck at it …! It shows again good equipment will not make the work for you. You need to learn to do it yourself! After these wise words, its time to get some sleep. Lets see how it goes!

08/12/19

Well, my Tinnitus and insomnia definitely did not get better here in New Zealand. At this point, I still need clonazepam to get just 4 hours of sleep. Afterwards it is waking up every hour. It sucks, that is true but at this moment I cannot function without it. Let’s hope this vacation at least improves my sleep and decreases the loudness of my tinnitus somehow. Today I decide to hike my way up to one of Auckland its inactive volcano’s, Mount Eden. After a short but slightly steep walk, a magnificent view over the city pops up. Its cloudy so the following days rain might be an interesting factor. 'Ik laat het niet aan mijn hart komen en geniet van het uitzicht'. A lot of Asian tourists are present here, proudly pointing the direction in which their country home country is located. Maybe on a clear day you will see something but I doubt it. Even Australia is waaaaaaaaay to far off to be visible. We are in the middle of fucking nowhere after all. An Island called New Zealand!

I continue my tour and visit the local gardens and university. I stumble upon the bio-engineering department. Well here nobody cares whom Doctor Bio engineer De Gieter is so I cannot proudly show off with that badge of honor. Damn, all my science jokes, no one care in New Zealand, can you imagine? There goes my spiciness factor. After the intense walk it is time for some food and I end up in Azia town. Ah, I truly have forgotten how ‘a little bit spicy’ is not a little bit spicy for European standards. A gazzilion napkins later, my dripping nose informs me that the food was spicy yet delicious. With that proper meal, I can go back to the City lodge hostel for my final night in Auckland, getting ready to start the journey! Hooray. Don’t be sad, I will be returning here for two more days at the end of my trip, maybe visiting the nearby islands know for their swimming wildlife!

10/12/19

Time to go on my adventure! I head towards GO rentals where I will pick-up my car for the next 4 weeks. I kindly present my international driver license to the lady behind the desk. The look in her eyes is not promising and when she asks me for my original Belgium Driver license it is in that moment I knew I fucked up! I remember me leaving it in Belgium to not loose it in New Zealand. Waaaaaaaaay to go Steven. The lady kindly reminds me to stay calm although I see the whole trip falling apart. All the locations were chosen in light of driving towards them. Even my way too large luggage was calculated in such a way that It would be oke in the trunk of the car. A call to the Belgium consulate reveals that a copy is not sufficient =’( sad day! The original document has to be send fast to Auckland!

I have no choice than to wake up people at 2 o’clock in the night (Belgium time) to find a solution. Anneleen now knows how it feels to be sleep deprived! As team leader of ‘Save Steven his holiday’ we come up with the following plan. Anneleen calls Niels in the morning since he is the only person with the new spare keys to the my apartment. His goal is to find the driver license and give it to Pieter who will come be bike to Mechelen and afterwards take the train to the VUB. There, the driver license can be send with Fedex express to Auckland and hopefully arrive in a week. And than we have Ellen, who was there for the moral support of the team! We have a plan, time to execute it!

At this point it is out of my hands. The following days I will continue my journey by bus and come back on Friday to Auckland. So many cars waiting for their driver, yet so far away!

Enough Stress for the day!

Shout out again to all the amazing friends who have helped me get through this eventful day! I could not have done it without you guyzzzzz!

Greetings,

The dumb dude who forgot his driver license