Today was a big day—Anna and I walked all the way from one coast to the other coast of Auckland! The city of Auckland stretches over an isthmus between the Waitemata Harbour of the Pacific Ocean and the Manukau Harbour of the Tasman Sea. We made our way from the east coast to the west coast in about 5 hours, with a lunch break at the top of Mount Eden, and a few other stops here and there. They suggest 4-6 hours, so we felt good about our leisurely 5.
Here I am at the very beginning: Waitemata Harbour. Coast #1.
This is the first big intersection we crossed, and we were surprised to see the pedestrians get their very own time to cross...any direction! You could go across the street on any side or just straight through the middle. Quite convenient, and quite a mad house when there are a lot of people crossing!
After walking through the city center, we made our way through the University of Auckland campus. It was fun walking through the campus because I think the semester was just starting up again and there were tons of students. After being around Primary School children, it was nice to be surrounded by students our own age!
The next stop was the Auckland Domain (domain=park). It was beautiful. So peaceful, and full of unique statues, trees, flowers, ponds, etc.
I realize this is probably not the best picture to put up because there's a blade of grass going through the middle of it, but the funny thing about this picture is my pose. I don't have a clue why I posed like this, but right after we left this pond, we saw a statue of a man doing this exact same pose. Very strange!
The next stop on our lovely walking tour was Mount Eden. We just went to the top of Mount Eden on Wednesday night for Anna's birthday, but it was neat to be able to walk up it instead of drive, and even nicer to see it in the daylight. The 360 degree view at the top is breathtaking. Auckland is a huge city, and you can see it expanding in all directions from the top. It was here at this dormant volcano, also known as Maungawhau, that we met our first friend of the day: Leon. Leon is from London, but travels all around the world. Not on business; all for pleasure. He works during the summer, and travels the rest of the year. Quite the life, eh?
This is taken from the very top of Mount Eden, looking down into the HUGE crater. At the bottom of the crater there are rocks forming either a 56 or a 95, depending on which side you look at it. I wonder what it stands for/who did it/how long has it been there, but unfortunately I think it's one of those mysteries I'll never find out. At the top of the photo, you can see the city center of Auckland. That tallest building is the Sky Tower.
Something about Mount Eden must have confused our map reading abilities, because we got a little lost both on the way to Mount Eden and our route away from Mount Eden. But actually, our confusion was probably more likely due to the fact that there are hardly any street signs! It is truly a struggle to figure out what street you're on or find the next street to turn onto. It has really made me grateful for the posting of street signs at every corner in the states. I wonder if the kiwis ever get confused because of their lack of street signs.
Once we found the right streets again, we made our way through Cornwall Park and One Tree Hill. Cornwall Park was picturesque. My favorite part was a pathway lined with these cool looking trees on either side.
This picture only shows the cool looking trees on one side, but aren't they cool? They are the perfect climbing trees because it's so easy to get started, and there's so many options of where to climb up!
On the way up and around One Tree Hill, there were sheep everywhere. Some were behind fences or stone walls, but lots were just all along the pathway. They were so close that Anna had the fabulous opportunity to graze with them :) They were also so close that from the pathway I casually reached out and touched one! I stretched out my hand, and my fingers grazed his wooly back as he "ran" away. My trip is complete: I touched a real New Zealand sheep :)
There actually aren't any trees at the top of One Tree Hill...something about a dispute between the Maoris and the Kiwis. Instead, there is a single pointed monument. It reminded us of the Washington Monument. 
After One Tree Hill, we made it through the final stretch to Onehunga Lagoon. (It's pronounce Oh-neh-hoonga, not One-hunga as I first pronounced it when I saw it!) It was quite a journey, and my feet are pretty sore and exhausted, but I loved it!
This was about the time we saw our first glimpse of the end of our coast-to-coast walk. It was always kind of exciting when we saw one of these yellow signs indicating "Coast-to-Coast Walkway" because then we knew we were going the right way. Unfortunately they were not always where we needed them...much like the street signs!
After making it to our destination, we then made our way to a bus stop to get back to West Auckland. However, we had some problems with the busses—again—and it took us almost three hours to make it from Onehunga Lagoon back home on Colwill Road. Almost as long as walking back to the other coast! One positive thing from this bus "adventure": making another friend. This man sat next to us at the bus stop and on the bus, and we learned a lot about his interesting life. He is 78! So, he had a lot to talk about, to say the least. He's from Liverpool, but has been living in Auckland since 1962. He has 3 sons, but his wife passed away. He is a jack of all trades and has even been a conductor of the double decker in England. Like Leon, he is a world traveler. Even now at almost 80 years old--he backpacked through Queenstown only a few months ago, and was supposed to be in Christchurch now, but the earthquake happened! I tried asking his name, but he was hard of hearing, and would always just keep talking about something else. He did inform us of his address, however, so we'll just refer to him as Flagstaff #10. haha What a funny old man.
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