Auckland, New Zealand North Island – March 28th – 30th, 2017

We left Hoi An at 5:00am to start the 30-hour journey to New Zealand (NZ). The itinerary went something like his: Drive 1 hour to the airport, wait 2 hours, fly to Saigon, Vietnam, wait 7 hours, fly to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, wait 4 hours, fly to Gold Coast, Australia (beautiful there by the way), wait 2 hours, fly to Auckland, take a shuttle to our hotel. Hard to believe that the 4-layover trip only cost $250 each! Considering how long the journey was it, the time passed relatively quickly, and before we knew it we were jetlagged in NZ!

Travel from Vietnam to New Zealand.

Our hotel appeared to be a Motel 6–esque sh*t hole from the outside, but we were surprised and pleased when the interior was clean, comfortable, and more like a mini apartment than a hotel room. Exhausted, but ravenous, we ordered very marginal Indian food delivery before turning in. First thing in the morning, we hired a taxi to take us to our new home for the next 6 weeks – a van! After signing our lives away and greedily stocking up on the free items left behind by past travelers, we were on our way (on the opposite side of the road in Auckland traffic). We spent most of the day running errands and shopping for warmer clothes. Our first order of business was to run the high-top van into the height restriction barrier going into the mall parking lot. Lucky for us (and the van’s forehead) the height pole was foam and we narrowly missed the metal structure about 2-feet above the warning pole – I guess we are taller than we realized. At the mall, we stocked up on groceries, got a SIM card for the phone, and bought wool socks, a raincoat, long underwear, and sweat pants for Andy, and a long sleeve shirt for me. Prices were astronomical in comparison, but the quality and style was spot on. The Kiwi’s know their cozy fashionable clothes. Ahhh it was good to be back in the first-world. It was also a crazy sensation to be able to communicate with EVERYONE! We spent all day smiling and laughing at the joy of such a simple luxury.

Top left: Our hotel during the 24-hr downpour that welcomed us to Auckland. Top right: Andy donating his old raincoat which was ripped and had dandruff... not sure the Red Cross will want it. Bottom Left: Shopping! Bottom Right: Andy relaxing in the van.

In the evening, we met up with some friends that now live in downtown Auckland. We had a lot of fun hanging out at their apartment, walking along the harbor, going out to eat, and catching up. Both being ex-pats, they supplied valuable insider tips about NZ, and even gave us a map showing where to go and what to do! Since Indian food has become our go-to meal in Asia (because you can find authentic food everywhere you go and it’s a welcome change from rice and oily vegetables), it only seemed appropriate that our last meal in Vietnam, layover meal in Kuala Lumpur, and first and second meals in NZ should be Indian. The main difference was that the Vietnam meal cost $6 for exceptional food, while NZ cost $60! At least all were tasty! Now full and happy, we spent our first night in the van (nicknamed Freddy Kiwi) on the downtown street right outside our friends’ apartment. The clean public toilet right outside made it uber convenient and the free price tag was affordable. 

Auckland skyline and harbor.

We got up bright and early to avoid a ticket and ventured to Mt. Eden (coincidently one of about a dozen active volcanoes surrounding the city), where we had a beautiful view over Auckland. By this point, less than 40-hours in, we were already in love with NZ and plotting our future move. The people are down to earth, happy, and friendly, the scenery is spectacular, access to outdoor adventures is unmatched, and Auckland is clean and modern. Auckland even reminded us a lot of Seattle, although to be fair, it could have just been the rain. The only drawback is that to move to NZ we would have to move to Hawaii for 6-months first to avoid a crazy long quarantine for Tucker the dog – wait…is that a drawback? Regardless, we were already dreading leaving to go back to Asia in just 6 weeks. 

Auckland city-scape from Mt. Eden. You can see the crater of the volcano in the bottom right photo.