A Day in Auckland

Hello everyone! I'm beginning to miss you all, but it is still proving to be a really great trip and experience. Since last week, I've been working four days a week at The Park Early Education Centre, which is only two blocks from where I'm staying - it's nice to be able to walk to work. I haven't attended any classes at Wintec College yet, but I will be going to one in a couple weeks. I will post some more information on my work, school, and homestay in my next blog.


For now, let me show you what I saw in Auckland! Auckland city is quite like Vancouver (in terms of weather and layout (very big!)). It is quite a bit more hilly than Vancouver though, so after 3 hours of walking through the city I was pretty tired.

City Hall

A Church

Sky Tower

New Zealand Racing Yacht

Sailing Boats

The Harbour and Downtown Auckland

After getting a nice student discount with my Wintec International Student ID card, I took the elevator up the Sky Tower to the main deck, and then to the top deck 220 m above the ground (250 m above sea level).  It's similar to the Calgary Tower in that there are information plaques around the decks that tell you about parts of Auckland that you can see from the Tower. I've attached some views that you can see from the top.

View from the 38 inch glass floor atop the Sky Tower

View down to The Church (pictured earlier)

View of the Harbour from above

Views through the hexagon looking glass...

Mt. Eden (Volcano)

City Hall

One Tree Hill (Maori settlement and volcano)

North Head (volcanic cone and coastal defense)

Rangitoto (volcano)

And now...the craziest part of the Auckland Sky Tower...the BASE JUMP FROM THE TOP! I've got a picture from the top so you can see where the landing strip is for the base jumpers (guided by lines down to the landing) AND a short video of one of the base jumpers (sorry it's sideways)!

And that was my wonderful day in Auckland :)  Well, tah tah for now! I will tell you more about where I am staying and working in my next blog, which I should be able to have ready in a few days.

Miss you all!

Karen Trotter