Heading back to Auckland

After a month in New Zealand, we’ve decided to begin wrapping up the New Zealand portion of our adventure.  Before leaving though, we needed to get back to the North Island (so that we could fly out of Auckland, which is the major international airport).  We took a flight from Wellington to Auckland (for only about $40 USD each) and booked 3 nights at the same serviced apartment that we enjoyed when we were previously in Auckland.  We enjoyed having a few down days, washing some clothes, and exploring some things that we had not explored in our first trip to Auckland.

One of the highlights of the past few days was taking a city bus out to the One Tree Hill area.  One Tree Hill is located inside a large park (Cornwall Park) in Auckland and was originally a volcanic peak.  Many Maori tribes trace their history to this area (since it was both a fertile area and a defendable location).  The area was later owned by Sir John Logan Campbell and was then donated to the people of NZ toward the end of his life.  We enjoyed our walk here, not only because it was a nice day, but also because we took the “path less traveled by” and cut through an active sheep pasture to get to the top.  The sheep sure gave us some funny looks, but for the most part ignored us invading their pasture!

On the walk to One Tree Hill, we also noticed a large facility called Alexandra Park which described itself as a “Trotting Club.”  Our guess was that it was used for horse racing (since that is very prevalent here), and since the sign said “Every Friday, Free Admission” we figured the time and the price were right.  After grabbing an incredibly generous portion of chinese food for a total of about $6 USD for both of us, we headed to the horse races.  We were a bit embarrassed to have to ask simple questions, but the locals and workers were friendly enough (as most kiwis are) and explained the whole system to us.  We stayed for several hours, betting $1 on this or that horse, and ended the evening only about $10 USD lighter for the evening of entertainment and beverages.  Another reason that we enjoyed this so much was that there were absolutely no tourists.  It was mostly older men and couples who come for the inexpensive dining, very social atmosphere, and reasonably priced entertainment.