New Zealand XI: Goodbye Sis, Hello Auckland

Jan 13, 2011

This was it. Today was the day that Laura left me and ventured back home to New York. I couldn't believe how quickly the past 10 days had flown by, nor could I wrap my brain around just how much we had seen and done in such a short period of time. In my book, we were backpacking champions. The Speers travelers extrordinaire. Which is why we squeezed in one last tourist sighting before heading back to the Auckland airport.

After checking out of our hostel for the last time, we stopped at the Whakarewarewa Forest which is famous for its towering California Coastal Redwood trees. We embarked on a brief walk through the forest, enjoying our remaining time together and reflecting back on what an incredible trip we had. We didn't dilly-dally too long because we had a deadline to meet: Madame Vitz had to be back in her owner's garage by 3:00pm on the dot.

The Whakarewarewa Forest

I wonder how old that tree is?

If you believe it you can achieve it, right?

The Redwood figurines

On the drive back to the rental car place, my heart was pounding. I had managed to go the entire trip without getting so much as a scratch on Madame Vitz, and I was worried that in the final leg of our trip I was going to ruin it. Isn't that always how it goes? My toes were crossed as the pressed the pedals, and I continually muttered, "Please don't get in an accident. Please let me get my deposit back. Please stay good looking Madame Vitz." We were so close to the finish line, and yet so far. My nerves were tingling all over.

And then Laura pointed at her window and cried out, "REAL FRUIT ICE CREAM!!" Immediately, my fears disappeared and I slammed on the brakes, pulling a u-turn to go back and investigate if Laura really saw what she said she saw. You may be confused at this point, wondering "Where did this commotion come from?" I will tell you. From the start of our trip Laura and I have been dying to eat New Zealand's real fruit ice cream. We are both ice cream addicts. If I could eat ice cream for breakfast, lunch and dinner I would. It's the soft serve ice cream I'm talking about, with its smooth, creamy texture that swirls so elegantly upwards creating a mound of seductive, heavenly goodness. (I don't know about you but I'm salivating). Ice cream makes my world go round. And this ice cream looked liked the soft serve ice cream of all soft serve ice creams. Why? Because they add fresh fruit into the ice cream, blend it up and then press it into a cone right when you order it. I've seen real fruit in hard ice cream (and even then, it's been sitting in a freezer for months if not years), but never have I ever seen just-picked-from-the-farm fresh fruit blended into soft serve ice cream. Never. We had to have it, but hadn't yet because either the places we were at didn't have it or when we went to get some the shops were closed. It was the one thing on our list of things to try in new Zealand that we had yet to do. And here it was before us in our final hours! It was meant to be. Fate wouldn't let us depart from the island without fulfilling our dreams of indulging in real fruit ice cream.

The sign that changed our lives. 

We were giddy little girls at the counter. I ordered mine with raspberries. Laura ordered hers with blackberries. My eyes lit up when I saw the fresh, ruby red raspberries tumble into the machine. I wiped the drool from my lip as I watched them blend magically into the ice cream, tainting it pink. And then it was in a cone in my hand. It was love at first bite. Of all the ice creams in the world, this is bar far the best I have ever tasted. It's on a whole other ice cream level. You'll just have to trust me on this one.

With "Eat real fruit ice cream" now checked off our list, we could at last continue on to the car rental shop without a single ounce of regret. Unfortunately, the nerves came returned once we were back in the car. I re-crossed my toes and took off. A half hour later I pulled into the car rental shop, parked the car, and let out a deep sigh of relief. We had made it in one piece. Almost. All that was left was to fill the gas tank and hand over the keys. I naively thought that there would be a gas station on the car rental premise. Sound the buzzer because I was wrong. No such luck. Which meant that I had to take Madame Vitz back out into the chaotic streets of Auckland to find a gas station so I could fill the tank. My anxiety sprung back up, this time higher than before. "This is it," I thought. "I'm going to damage Madame Vitz after safely returning once." BUT I DIDN"T!! We made it to the station and back safely. This time I parked the car in the lot and let out two huge sighs of relief. I handed over the keys and they handed over my $2,000 deposit (well, swiped it on my card, but you get me).

Speers girls will be coming to see you soon enough.

After we parted ways, I headed into the city of Auckland and settled into my hostel. Then I went out and explored the city streets. Auckland reminded me of Sydney. It was the closest thing to an actual city as we know it that I saw in New Zealand. Most refreshing to see is that the streets were actually crowded! That's probably because nearly two-thirds of New Zealand's entire population lives in Auckland. Crazy, huh?

That evening I walked to and then climbed up Mt. Eden, one of Auckland's most famous landmarks. Mt. Eden is an inactive volcano that offers breathtaking views of Auckland. It also has a really cool crater at the top that adds a dramatic flare to the scenic view. While the walk was a bit exhausting, the incredible view up top was well worth it.

Auckland over the crater

The intimidating crater. If you fell down you would not be able to climb back out. It was steep. 

Auckland!

On the other side of the hill...more hills =)