Life in Auckland

Okay. So I thought it was about time I told you a bit more about our life in Auckland. However, I know how many exciting tales you have read over the last few months about the likes of diving with turtles and having monkeys in our back garden, so I had better warn you that this post is a little more routine.

The city

Let's start with Auckland generally. For those of you who don't know Auckland that well, it's the biggest city in NZ (but not the capital) and is situated in the north of the north island. Depending on who you speak to / what you read, Auckland is described as 3/4/5 cities in one. The three people tend to agree on are Central Auckland, the North Shore (across the water from Auckland central) and Manukau City in the south.

Even though it's NZ's largest city, it's not massive by international standards and it's spread-out nature gives it even less of a 'big city' feel. There's plenty to see and do across the whole area though, and we ain't seen the half of it yet.

Auckland is what the guidebooks call a 'waterfront city', the water, in this case, being the sea. It's taking a bit if used to -looking out at the water and thinking 'that's the sea' rather than 'that's the River Clyde'. The landscape this far north is volcanic with 50-something extinct volcanoes visible from the top of the skytower (some more obvious than others). It also means that the sand in this area is dark, almost black in some places.

The job

Alec and I are both working in admin jobs for Auckland City Council for the next month-ish to earn some dollars. We're both in the planning section of the environments department. Alec is processing forms and I have just been moved into a job preparing documents for scanning. This not only means that I get to look at some very cool building plans, but also I get to trolley to push around. That's a big thing in the temping world. I am no longer 'the temp working in processing' but 'that woman that you see pushing the trolley around. You know - the one who wears pink shoes on dress-down friday'.

It's not challenging. It's not well paid. But we've met some really nice people and we're not only earning some money but also not wandering the streets spending money, and that's the important thing.

The House

So, we're living in Auckland Central right on the edge of two areas of to the west of the city called Ponsonby and Herne Bay. It's 'trendy' rather than 'posh' (think Glasgow's west end rather than Newton Mearns). The houses in this area are pretty much all colonial-style villas and there are plenty of cafes, pubs and cool little shops. We're also on the Link bus route which means we can get to loads of places in Auckland Central for 50p. You can see the sea from the top of our road, and it's only a five minute walk downhill to get to the shore.

The house we're in is massive, with 14 large double rooms, 2 livingrooms, 2 kitchens, and plenty of bathrooms over the two floors which are split into separate flats. There is a good mix of people here - some more crazy than others, including a number of Brits, a proffessional chef and a few guitar players. On a Friday night we all tend to congregate in the downstairs flat and cook for each other - this week it was our turn along with Jackie and we made some damned fine curry!

And that's about all to report at the moment. There will be more news and more pics as we get out and about at the weekends more. I'm also working on a list of obscure observations about NZ to give you a better idea of kiwi life. But right now I am off out for a walk as it is a beautifully sunny winters day.