The City of Sails Part II

As Kayleigh can attest, much to her displeasure, I'm not the biggest beach person.  I love a beautiful beach as much as the next person, but when it comes to lazing and sunbathing all day long I just can't sit still.  I prefer more active pastimes, and Auckland seems like the perfect place to pick up a new water sport.  I've seen tons of people out on stand up paddle boards and kayaks, and New Zealand has a pretty big surf culture and some killer waves.  I'm quite partial to kayaking, and just seeing all the bays, beaches, islands and mangroves has really got me in the mood to give it a shot. If you find the idea of self-propulsion repulsive however, there is the ever-present motorboats, sailboats, and yachts.  Auckland is known as the City of Sails, and I can't think of a better place to own a boat.  The Hauraki Gulf is loaded with islands giving you endless destination options (I think I should start asking Tourism New Zealand for a check), or you could just lay anchor in the middle of the sky blue gulf and drop a line or go for a dip.  Either way, just make sure to get out on the water and enjoy the scenery and the sunshine.

Given the plethora of bays and points along Auckland's pock marked coastline, I've been doing a lot of shoreline walks lately (if you haven't noticed).  For city beaches, they're shockingly clean and uncrowded.  Mission Bay puts San Francisco's Ocean Beach to shame, and a lot of the suburbs adjacent to the beaches have a quaint village feel.  I've actually seen a few older people whose trip to the grocery store is walking along the beach.  Lucky them.  During a recent walk along the north shore, I happened across an awesome man made soaking pool carved into the lava rock.  When the tide comes in, the pool is filled with water and a "natural" pool is created.     

Mission Bay

I may be one of the only people to say Auckland makes a good tourist destination, but certainly not the only one to claim it's a fantastic place to live (Aussies might find this to be contentious, but they're wrong).  At 1.5 million people, it offers many of the advantages of a big city without the crowds.  Combine that with the amazing natural amenities and mild climate and it should be no surprise why Auckland is consistently ranked amongst the ten most livable cities in the world.  Kayleigh and I like it so much that we've decided to stay put until November and lump all of our travels into one wonderful summer.  This will give us a chance to crystallize some budding friendships and avoid the hassle and cost of finding new jobs and a new place to stay elsewhere.  After what has essentially been a yearlong winter (we flew south just as it was getting warm), I can't wait for spring.  And this summer is going to be epic.  

Kiwisms:

gobby = blow job

lost the plot = gone crazy

tea = dinner/snack/lunch/breakfast

vivid = highlighter

gutted = upset