Cars and volcanoes

We could hear the rain when we woke up this morning so didn't rush to get up. We had our usual breakfast of muesli and a banana while chatting to a Dutch girl that also had a working visa. She was working a couple of hours south but came up to Auckland for the weekend. She told us about buses that you could get for a dollar. This only confused us more. We had been set on hiring a car until this point. We chose to go across the road to a cool little arcade and have a coffee in a cafe so we could use wifi. We googled all the bus companies and looked up how good the car companies were. In the end we decided that a car was still better because buses couldn't take us everywhere and we'd spend half our time either trying to find the right bus or trying to book the right bus. After reading some reviews on Omega car hire we knew it was the right thing and so set off into town to book. It was a half hour walk to the car hire place and after we sorted out all the details and booked a car for tomorrow morning it was lunch time. We'd been wise enough to make sandwiches just after breakfast so we ate them on the go (I had another tuna sandwich; this one was tomato salsa tuna). 

On our walk back into town we found a shortcut through a lovely park that had a statue made by Galileo. We think it was Moses but we're not sure. Back on K road we went into a few camping shops to see if we could find a tent. We thought camping would be the cheapest option but after looking around it seemed stupid because tents weren't cheap. If we find a second hand one then maybe we'll buy it. 

Our aim for the day had been to climb mount Eden, Auckland's largest volcano. Eventually, we moved on out of the centre and after around an hour we found the base of mount Eden. It started to rain on and off which wasn't great and made us wonder why on earth we were doing this. It took probably a quarter of an hour to climb up (it wasn't huge) but from the top the views out over Auckland were pretty spectacular (the rain had stopped). It is technically a volcano but it looks more like a grassy hill with a big dip in the top. We could see other grassy hills (volcanos) scattered around the area and further past them was the sea and some islands. There was a sign pointing out where various things were including which direction London was and how far away it was. I've never been so far from home. 

When we got back down onto normal roads it was gone 5pm and we were pretty chilly. We passed a lovely looking pub so went inside to check out prices. It was pretty packed, probably because it was Father's Day, and was a little too expensive for our budget so we sadly moved on. We didn't fancy walking half an hour into town to the supermarket and then half an hour back so we wanted to find somewhere cheap for tea. After changing into more presentable clothes at the hostel we asked the lovely owner where was good and cheap to eat. She recommended the Mercury plaza food court a few doors down from the hostel which has good cheap Asian food. We thought we'd check it out and we weren't disappointed. There was loads of different Asian cuisines for about $10 (£4). We both wanted a Thai curry but went for different types: I had a yellow curry and Matt had a red one. They were delicious! And big. I'd say there was a little too much sauce (it started to feel a bit like soup) but that didn't bother me too much. It reminded me of the best meal I've had on this trip which was in Chiang Mai. I have most definitely mentioned this restaurant many times but it will probably stick in my mind forever. I may start going to lots of Thai restaurants when I get home. 

After tea we crossed over the road and went for a drink at a hipster bar we'd noticed on the first day. It was very cool with a wooden front and heaters and stylish people sitting and drinking. I had a glass of wine and enjoyed the atmosphere. It was a nice way to end the day.