Mugged Off Monkeys

I thought I would end the week off with a summary of all of my adventures since arriving into Auckland, and had no issue with coming up with the title of Mugged Off Monkeys as that is how I and a few others I have met felt. Particularly about our chosen company to go out with.

Luckily for me I did get to experience all of the excursions booked, but for my newly acquainted friends that was not so much the case. We all share our Arrival Coordinator who must be either one of two things... very overwhelmed or just bad at their job. Unfortunately, I think it is the latter.

New Month, New Beginning... Kind of...

Lucas and Tai had both arrived on the 3rd September, which instantly annoyed me as I specifically asked to arrive then. I was months ahead of them in terms of booking and organising with this company and it would have meant a lot for me to arrive on the 3rd as it would have meant leaving on the 1st, signifying a new month and new beginning.

Excursions

Conveniently having met Tai, and knowing she was on the same company as I was, we were talking about exclusions included in our package and realised we were both doing the bus tour the next day, the day after, she was leaving to go to Christchurch. On our sight seeing tour I met Lucas, and luckily he wasn't going until Thursday Evening to Taupo, which meant I had someone to go with to Rangitoto Island. Well according to my ticket there was meant to be someone else coming with us called Thomas.

By Thursday two of my fellow Mugged Off Monkeys had left, leaving just me. Thursday morning was the Auckland Bridge Climb, again Thomas was meant to be there but I had still yet to actually meet him. So luckily for me, I had a private tour all to myself, and maybe contemplated doing the bungy jump after witnessing it. Then in the afternoon was the Sky Tower Walk and Pass. Luckily by this point I had met Thomas, while I did manage to make the walk, despite wanting to freak out at the start, Thomas did what my gut was telling me to do and to get back inside. Although we can forgive him completely as he bought me cake as he "couldn't be there for moral support".

Organisation

From what I had heard from Lucas and Tai, and second hand about a few others on this programme was that we had all been delightfully misinformed, about numerous things. Upon meeting Thomas, he had told me he never received anything for excursions, and the same went for Robert.

Hostel

Whilst the Attic Backpackers in Auckland is rated amongst the best hostel to stay in, it certainly didn't live up to my European standard for what I would consider best or even average.... A 2* on a good day.

First Impression, it looks dingy and in the words of Tai, a hole in the wall in New York, to which I responded we've probably offended the holes in NY now. My driver had abandoned me with my bags in the pissing down rain, on the pavement. I am severely jetlagged, under the weather, and wet. A very pissed off Brit to say the least.

Soaking wet, and dragging my bags through a dank hall fully expecting Mr. Jekyll to jump out from a corner at any given moment in time. The lift was grim to say the least, mucky, and definitely felt like you were going to catch something off it. I had no choice but to take it or reap the consequences of carrying two suitcases and a rucksack up 5 flights of stairs.

I go to check in, thinking I was told 24hr check-in time. I was wrong, they didn't open check-in until 2pm. It is currently 12. No biggie, they had a place where I could store my bags, so I chucked them in there and went in search of food in the soaking rain.

Cold, Wet, and now hungry I was very fortunate that there was a food court right around the corner from the hostel, and had to me, the best sausage roll I had had for a while.

I check in, after chatting with Tai, waiting for time to pass. The room was fairly small, but nothing out of the ordinary for my expectations... a little cold with the window open and the heater on. No surprise the room couldn't stay warm.

I could see that I had another roomie with me, but they weren't back from whatever it was they were doing. Luckily, when I did get to meet her, she is this very lovely girl from South Korea, who was also on a working holiday for 12 months.

Mini-Holiday

All's well that ends well, after 4 nights in the grotty hostel I decided I was going to treat myself as this was a mini-holiday before going out to start work. The mini-holiday officially started as soon as I left the hostel. I rented myself a beautiful SUV from GO Rentals for a decent price, yes I did pay more for the SUV but the comfort was worth it.

Once I had the SUV, I headed off to somewhere randomly towards my next end destination for the night. I decided to go South of the Waitakere Ranges, and down to some of the beaches. I discovered some really nice hidden beaches. The first I went to, French Bay Beach, I made friends with a duck who randomly approached me. Then I went over to McLachlan Monument, before heading over to Huia Point Lookout. Coming back over towards the East I headed to Titirangi Beach. I had stopped earlier in the day for a luncheon pie from The Mill House Bakery.

My night stop was in a hotel called the Waitakere Resort & Spa. I was so relieved to finally be spending a night in a room of my own, and on a proper bed. My package included, dinner and breakfast with it. I enjoyed a three course dinner, starting off with a Salmon Tartare, a main of slightly undercooked duck breast, and finished off nicely with an Orange Panna Cotta served with a peach, raspberry and mascarpone cream. I would have had a good night sleep if it weren't for some inconsiderate arse on the floor below who decided to smoke in his room, setting off the fire alarms at 4am. Breakfast was enjoyed at 09:25am when I sat down and had ordered what I thought was something very simple... French Toast with no banana's. To my dismay everyone seemed to get their breakfast before me. I was only a table of 1, when it arrived it was good but not good enough to make up for the delay in service.

After planning from the night before I had booked myself a room at Copthorne Resort & Spa Hotel in the Bay of Islands, with the intention of heading further up north the next day after adventuring around in the Bay of Islands. I stopped at Whangārei Falls to break up my journey.

Earlier today, I left thee Copthorne and Bay of Islands in search of my goal... to reach New Zealand's mainland most northerly point... Cape Reinga. Did I achieve my goals, yes, well almost. I made it to the car park. It was blowing a hoolie out there and didn't fancy my chances against the wind, sea and looming volcanic rock. I stopped in a couple places on the way up, and one more purely for food on the way back down to Hokianga. I am staying in a place called The Heads Hokianga, it was dark on my arrival so, I have no idea what view I have. I was just happy to be able to park right outside. More cultural based adventures await me tomorrow.

Summary

All in all, once I had finished the programme from the company. I began to actually not feel mugged off, and enjoyed my freedom more. Albeit, more lonely. I had managed to make friends during my time in Auckland, not so lucky on my solo adventures just yet. It will be interesting to see what awaits me in Christchurch.