Auckland, commonly known as the City of Sails; was later explained to me by a shuttle bus driver who picked us up from our apartment on our second day that it has to be called by that name as New Zealand has the highest sail ownership per-capita in the world.

Our intention was to travel to Sydney, but later decided a side-trip to Auckland would be neat. From a grueling 14+ hours flight (but safe) across the Pacific, our first stop-over was Sydney. It took us another four hours or so before Qantas 737 landed its gears to Auckland Airport.

Judging from queued passengers at Customs counters, there must be a hiatus of Auckland International Airport-bound aircraft at that time. Only a meager two dozens or so passengers were at the queue waiting for their turn at the customs counter.

"Only three days?" exclaims a lady Customs officer to my wife as she squinting labouriosly at our filled-out visitors card tucked between the pages of our passport when my wife answered three days is our intended stay in the city. The Customs officer wondered if we would have enough time to explore Auckland.

My wife and I looked at each other and instinctively would have came up with the same answer: "Highly unlikely, Ma'am!" The heavy-accented officer nevertheless stamped our passports for a three-month stay.

On the way out, a gentleman offered to take us picture, apparently amused as my wife and I were switching places to take picture behind a 'Welcome to Auckland' signage; as well as the woman who helped us getting transit ticket from a machine dispenser. These individuals - more or less - gave us the impression of pleasant experience we would have in our brief stay at Auckland - which we did, as a matter of fact, except for one poor service we received from a particular barbeque restaurant.

For only a third of regular cab fee, we hopped on to a public shuttle bus going to Auckland's city centre. And from downtown's Queen St., we found half-kilometre away our accommodation to Nelson St. Our apartment is small, but it offered the best view of the Sky Tower - which happens to be few blocks away.


After a quick shower that evening, we were on our way out to find a place to dine in. Though later, we had in our paper bag a green salad, a couple of burger, and grilled lamb meat. We opted to take out our foods back to the apartment instead and had quiet dinner to ourselves afterward. The persistent jet lag was still present at that time. TO BE CONTINUED...

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