It was weird being on my own for the first time in a month. Me and Hollie had been together 24/7 and now I was sitting in Brisbane Airport waiting for my flight to Auckland. As much as I loved it there, after a month of travelling in Australia and living out of a suitcase, I was pretty excited to settle in New Zealand and have a base for a while.
I was crazy nervous when I headed from Brisbane to Auckland. The only confirmation I had received for my visa was an email in March last year, which seemed inadequate. When I tried to check in to my flight 24 hours beforehand, it told me that wasn’t going to happen and I had to speak to someone at the airport. Once I got there, they were all breezy about it and checked me in straight away, whilst I had turned up 2 hours early because I thought I was going to have trouble.
I flew with Air New Zealand, which was a pretty good airline. At the airport, I made awkward eye contact with Pete Doherty after noticing his bizarre outfit choice of a smart shirt and tracksuit bottoms. Pretty sure I was the only person in the departure lounge that knew who he was though.
On the plane, I discovered that I was smart enough to book a meal which passed a bit of time - although it was only a 2-hour flight. I was a little off put by the kiwi girl sat next to me with her shoes off and on her tray table - inches away from my chicken pasta. But after eating my meal and watching a movie (Murder on the Orient Express - good film) my ordeal was over.
When I arrived in Auckland, no one even asked to look at my visa. There were no questions regarding my departure from the country or financial situation (I don’t yet have a return flight booked), and all they seemed to care about was whether I had any food in my luggage (I didn’t - surprisingly). Even when I declared on my customs form that I had come into contact with a kangaroo AND a koala within the last 30 days – because I just wanted to tell more people because it was so cool – they didn’t even bat an eyelid. I was the only person in the internationals queue as I had come from Australia, so I whizzed through and was in arrivals nice and quickly.
I was staying with my friend Megan - another friend I met during my time doing Camp America. When I arrived she took me to see some pretty nighttime views of Auckland City - it was 1am. This was my first viewing of the skyline which included the Sky Tower. As pretty as it was, it was super dark, and I was still in shock at the fact I had made it to New Zealand to take it in properly.
My first impression of Auckland was that it was small. I had been told it was a small city, but it wasn’t at all what I expected. It has a very small population for a city, and the streets are a lot calmer. To put it into perspective a little, the population is 1.377 million in Auckland, and in London, it is 8.788 million. That’s a big difference. It’s even crazier to think that the population of the whole of New Zealand is 4.7 million, and the population of the UK is 65.6 million. The capital of New Zealand – Wellington – has a population of just 496,000.
Auckland is built on volcanoes – yes, you read that correctly – and they are active. There have been about 90 eruptions within the last 9000 years, and there could easily be another one within our lifetime. On one of my sightseeing trips, I made a visit to the Auckland Museum which has a fascinating exhibition about the volcanoes. This includes a simulator which recreates what it would be like to be in a house in Auckland during a volcano eruption – it was pretty cool but also a little bit scary. Knowing my luck, there will probably be an eruption over the next year, because that’s just my life. The plus side of the volcanos is that you can climb them and see some incredible views. Mount Eden is pretty central and is a great spot to have a picnic looking out over the city. One Tree Hill is Cornwall park is also beautiful with amazing views.
Another thing that I have noticed is that everything seems pretty expensive, at first I thought it was just because I was still thinking in £’s but actually, even when you convert it, it is still expensive. For example, the average price for a small bottle of diet coke is $4. This would be about £2 – which I would absolutely never spend, that’s almost double the average UK price. (I’m lying, realistically I would spend all of my wages on D.Coke if required). However, the country redeems itself with its $5 Dominos pizzas. Apparently, they don’t really like them here – weird.
I've now been in the country for 2 months, and I have done so much. It was weird settling into my new lifestyle - in fact, it still is. I've had to make new friends and find a job and at times it has been hard. There has been plenty of moments where I have just wanted to come home, and a lot of times where I have felt very lonely. The experience is very different from Australia where I had someone with me every step of the way. Luckily everyone here is so friendly. The family I stayed with for the first month helped me settle in and showed me around. I was initially living out west of Auckland, in the suburb Te Atatu South, however as I don't have a car, I decided to move closer to the city so it was easier for me to get to work and explore the city.
I got work pretty much straight away and chose to go part-time to start off. I'm now looking for a full-time job and its a little harder. I think I may be temping for a while - which is fine as it gives me more freedom - but I feel anxious about not having a job set in stone. It makes me not want to spend my money and I'm stingy enough as it is.
At the moment I don't really have a life plan. Some days I think I want to go home soon because I miss my friends and family, and other days I realise I am living a great life experience and want to stay as long as possible. Maybe I'll find a good permanent job or a husband (lol) and stay here forever, or maybe I'll get fed up with people pronouncing my name wrong and book a flight home soon. Megan and I have a trip to Queenstown booked in June, which I am really looking forward to. I think I would like to do a tour of the South Island too. A lot of people tell me that Auckland is not a true New Zealand experience, so I am eager to explore some new places.
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