Thursday, May 9th, 2019 – Auckland
Erin and Kaitlyn
On today’s adventure, we got to explore the beauty of Auckland, a city on the West side of the North Island. We loved getting to walk around the city for a few hours; seeing the different buildings, cultures, and people.
As we moved around New Zealand, we learned that where ever you go there is a new culture to adapt to and knowledge to learn. We started our trip at a slow pace, taking hikes in rainforests to now watching for cars and trying to go through crosswalks in less than 30 seconds, all while being around 1000’s of people!
While we were in Auckland, we were tasked by Dr. Moerke, Dr. Berchem and our tour guide Doug to a scavenger hunt that took us throughout the majority of the city. We found different parks, tried different foods, and dabbled in our map reading abilities. We all had time to be adventurous with an abundance of different food options.
Some groups had Malaysian food (Mamak), others had Taiwanese (seaweed pork floss), and Korean pancakes. Throughout our time in Auckland, we all experienced different cultures, languages, and adventures!
The winning group, comprised of Ari, Megan, Millie, and Kaitlyn won by a landslide of 150 points! Myself (Kaitlyn) and our group visited much of the city and by the end of the day walked over 18,000 steps! It was a great experience to immerse ourselves in New Zealand city life and the different cultures within one city.
This is a day none of us will forget; between learning how to use public transportation, riding Lime scooters, and figuring out how to read a map! Shortly after we boarded a plane to Christchurch to begin our stay on the South Island and learn about the earthquakes that occurred and the aftermath eight years later.