Tag: Auckland

Recently, I went to the Auckland War Memorial Museum with my brother and his girlfriend. We went on a rainy Friday afternoon that had previously been set aside for a visit to the zoo (it was too wet, though). It wasn’t over busy (aside from a couple of Chinese families with children who kept getting under foot), and we were there for about three hours.

The following is a selection of the photographs that I took during my visit. Enjoy!

Conclusion

Overall, it was a fun day and the museum was interesting, but it’s not worth paying to visit. I wouldn’t go if I had to pay for entry ($25 for people who don’t live in New Zealand). Fortunately, I’m a kiwi, so I didn’t have to pay.

Entry to Auckland Zoo is quite expensive (adult single day pass is $24 – reduced while they revamp their South East Asia precinct). If you can afford it, however, I highly recommend it. I recently visited the zoo with my brother and his girlfriend, and we saved $29 by presenting my student ID card (I’m no longer studying but the card hasn’t expired) and an entertainment book voucher.

We started by visiting the otters (sooooo cute) and the Australian animals. We spent a lot of our time looking at the various monkeys and cats, but only looked briefly at the birds and other non-mammals. Here are some of the photos I took. Enjoy!

Make the most of your visit

Avoid weekends: the weekend is when all the parents take their kids out. As a result, the zoo can feel a bit noisy and overrun by small children. We went on a Saturday and there were a lot of children. Despite watching our path so we didn’t trample anyone, my brother still had a toddler crash into his legs.

Take your own lunch: the zoo has several places where you can buy food. However, the prices are horrendous (we paid $12 for two pottles of chips to share between us – very good chips, but so expensive that we went to McDonalds for a proper lunch after we were done).

Try for fine weather: most of the zoo is outside, and while there is plenty of shade, much of it is under trees and entirely unsuitable for shelter from rain. The day we went was mostly sunny but cold and very windy.

Auckland Zoo recommends that you start with the African animals, followed by New Zealand and South America on a loop around the zoo. Alternatively, you can start with the South East Asian and Australian animals. I’ve done it both ways and neither seems any better than the other.

Auckland, New Zealand covers a large area for its population size (about 1.7 million people spread over nearly 4,900km² in 2018). Such a large city requires a lot of travel to get around, and as such needs an extensive public transport system. On a recent trip to Auckland, I used the train to go into town one day as I didn’t feel like tackling the traffic and inner-city parking.

The following is the basics of how Auckland’s train system works (the train system is only part of Auckland public transport – also made up by buses and ferries).

Train Lines

Auckland’s trains run on four lines: Southern, Eastern, Western, and Onehunga. All lines eventually come into Britomart Station, the large transport hub in the centre city. Britomart also connects the train system to major bus services and is right next to the main ferry terminal.

Southern Line – The Southern line runs from Papakura in the South to Britomart in the centre city. Other major stations include Manurewa, Otahuhu, Penrose, and Newmarket. Trains arrive/depart from stations approximately every 20-30 minutes during the day, every 10 minutes during peak-hour.

Onehunga Line – This line runs from Onehunga to Britomart. It runs alongside the Southern line from Penrose. The other major station on this line is Newmarket. Trains arrive/depart from stations about half-hourly every day.

Eastern Line – The Eastern line runs from Manukau to Britomart. It runs alongside the Southern line from Puhinui to Otahuhu. Other major stations on this line include Panmure and Sylvia Park. Trains go through stations about every 10 minutes during peak-hour and every 20-30 minutes over the rest of the day.

Western Line – This line runs from Swanson to Newmarket with a rail link up to Britomart. Other major stations include Henderson and New Lynn. Trains run every 20-30 minutes in daytime, more often during peak-hour.

Buying Tickets

Tickets for Auckland trains must be bought before boarding the train. Several large stations (such as Britomart) have people who will check that you have a ticket before you can enter or leave the station. Aside from that, train workers can check for a valid ticket (or card) at any time. Tickets are valid for two hours after they are bought, so should not be bought too far in advance.

Service Counter – some of the larger stations have customer service desks that can sell you a ticket. If they are there and open, buying a ticket is easy: just tell the person behind the counter what station you would like to go to.

Machine – Ticket machines can be found at all stations (some have more than others). They are dark blue and are often found by walls on the main station building. They are easy to use (some are not so easy to find); just follow the instructions on the screen.

AT HOP Cards – if you are going to be using the trains a lot, it might be worth buying an AT HOP Card. The card itself costs $10 NZD (at this time) but gets you a discount on fares and makes paying for public transport easier. Cards can be bought at a variety of retailers around the city or online, and topped-up at retailers, machines, and counters. To use, just hold the card against the card reader or gate at the station where you start your journey, and again at your destination.

Pricing

For the purposes of pricing for public transport, Auckland is split into zones. The cost of a journey depends on how many zones you pass through. What particular zones you pass through doesn’t matter – the number of zones does.

With an AT HOP Card, the number of zones you go through is automatically calculated and the cost of the journey deducted from you account. This can save you a lot of money if you are using both buses and trains as the price of the journey calculated based on how many zones you go through, not the total of the costs of the individual bus or train trips.

Conclusion

Auckland’s train lines provide a useful base for the city’s public transport. They are a fantastic way to cover longer distances quickly and easily throughout the city. However, there are many parts of the city that cannot be accessed by train and also require use of a bus. For more information (including exact and up-to-date prices), check out the Auckland Transport website.

I have just returned home from a looooong weekend in Auckland, New Zealand. It only takes a few hours to drive up there from home, so it’s perfect for a quick break away and a change of scenery. It’s also good for proving that I can spend time away from home without breaking down, before I try any longer trips further away. I left home after lunch on Thursday and drove up to stay with my lovely Aunt (and her husband, child, and pets).

Friday

On Friday, I spent most of the day in town with one of my friends from high-school (let’s call her Pam – not her real name). I haven’t seen her in four and a half years and it was really nice to catch-up with her. She is in her final year of study at the University of Auckland.

I took the train into Britomart and spent the next 20 minutes wandering Central Auckland, trying to get my bearings and find the place we had agreed to meet. Once Pam found me, we had lunch at a lovely little restaurant called Ortolana. The food was great (I had some sort of kumara gnocchi with lamb, mint, and yoghurt), the service was superb, and the dining area was comfortable. My only complaint would be how loud it got inside; it was hard to hear myself think.

After lunch, we went to several shops that my friend wanted to show me. We bought macrons at Milse, tasted (and bought) fancy tea at T2, and smelled skin conditioners at Lush. We also browsed a clothing store and shared a hot drink before I took the train back to Aunty’s.

Saturday

Saturday had a lazy start. I spent the morning working on blog posts and watching my ten-year-old cousin play Fortnite on the PlayStation. After lunch, I went with my Aunt as she took my cousin to a karate practice (he has an international tournament coming up). I spent two hours watching kumite and kata (I think those are the right words), talking to some of the parents, and flicking through a book I had taken to occupy myself.

On the way home we stopped for ice cream at Casa Del Gelato in Parnell, but the shop was closed for a couple of weeks due to the owner’s father having had an operation. Apparently (according to a ten-year-old boy) it’s the best ice cream shop in the world. I will have to try it another time.

Sunday

My cousin had a karate practice tournament on Sunday morning. It was rubbish. He did well, but a couple of kids arrived late so the organisers rearranged the schedule around the kids that weren’t there so that the others didn’t have enough breaks. Then one of his kumite matches was against a girl whose mother was judging (so biased) and didn’t give my cousin two points that he earned right at the end so that the girl would win. Also, there was a boy there who did MMA and was using moves from other practices, not just karate; he was a bit rough with his opponents, leading to a few injuries.

We had homemade pizza for lunch, topped with left-over from dinner on Saturday night. The afternoon was spent relaxing, playing Fortnite, and working on laptops. To top off the evening, we watched the new Captain Marvel movie on the big screen TV, having already watched Mary Poppins Returns.

Monday

Monday was a public holiday. In the morning, the four of us went to Botany and watched ‘Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion’ at the Hoyts Movie Theatre. The chairs at the theatre were all soft recliners (very nice and comfy). However, it was freezing; I didn’t move my legs for the whole movie because the rest of the footrest was too cold.

After the movie, we looked through some of the shops looking for a new eggo machine (the old one had stopped tweeting) and glass tumblers, until we got hungry. We then had lunch at Denny’s Manukau. I had a lamb burger with curly fries (Denny’s has the best curly fries).

Tuesday

I finished reading the book I took with me on Tuesday morning (No more book to read!!!!! Disaster!!!!!). In the morning, I took the dog for a long walk, then had a shower and watched lunch in front of the TV (there is nothing worth watching in the middle of the day).

FYI: the book I finished was The Genesis Secret by Tom Knox – RTC

My Aunt had a couple of errands she asked me to run (just some groceries and a visit to the post office). I found the supermarket with little issue (there’s a closed supermarket building down the road that gave me a bit of panic). However, I just couldn’t find a post office; I drove around Papakura and Takanini for nearly an hour looking. I saw plenty of NZ Post vans, and some PO Boxes, but nowhere that I could actually post a parcel.

Conclusion

I returned home on Wednesday morning; the weather was forecasted to worsen in the afternoon and remain bad for the next couple of days, and I wanted to get home before the weather made the roads dangerous.

Overall, the trip was a success. I returned refreshed and ready to get back into life, and proved that I could spend time away from home (a go without mid-day naps) without breaking down.