5 days in Auckland living with locals: A 2nd visit

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Greg is a modern World Explorer, Film-maker, Mobile & Google friendly Website producer, & Entrepreneur at the intersection of travel and technology. He has directed, shot, edited, and produced over 30 high definition travel and lifestyle related videos on Youtube in addition to producing ChicVoyage in Asia – modern travel adventures on the Amazon.com store in 2012. He has been instructed by globally renown SLR Director and film-maker Phillip Bloom. His 4 month 2013 journey took him to Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia.

Return to Auckland – A rough start

I made the mistake during my 13 day 2011 New Zealand trip of not visiting Australia while I was in this part of the world. I learned from my mistake and scheduled a 5 day trip to Auckland, New Zealand, which is about a 3-4 hour flight from Sydney Australia. In this part of the world you may find that Jetstar airlines has the cheapest flights within Australia and New Zealand. Unfortunately they are stingy with their baggage allowance, they loose luggage, and sometimes your flight schedule is limited to early morning 6am or late night 11pm flights. On this flight Jetstar lost my checked luggage and it was past midnight in Auckland. Auckland is very much a car city especially if you want to get out of the city and see some of the natural sights that New Zealand has to offer. I made it past customs just in time to purchase a 3g sim card for my iphone from telecom nz for $25. I think it covered 500mb, but it was sufficient for my data research, email, and google map gps needs. My host suggested Apex car rentals, which ended up being cheaper than options going through kayak. My iphone batteries ran out and I was forced to take a picture of the google map directions on my ipad before it died. I made it to the property around 3:20am.

tip: if you are using your smartphone for google map gps be sure to bring a phone charger for the car

tip: give yourself some time to get used to driving on the left hand side and the controls

 

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Next Stop: Melbourne, Australia: The most livable city in the world?