Arrival in Auckland

I slept ok but not great on the second leg of my flight (Hong Kong to Auckland) but it was enough to hit the ground running. We got in a little early, so it wasn't even 7:30 when I got out of customs. New Zealand is so ecologically sensitive they inspect any food you have and your hiking shoes. I used i-site (NZ tourist info) to set up a hostel before I left the airport and took the shuttle straight there. The fresh smell of lush green and the open sky struck me as soon as I exited the terminal.
Auckland is small but metropolitan. Unfortunately it doesn't have it's own particularly strong character or style. It struck me right away that I wouldn't need more than a day to see it. In fact it took less. By the time I dropped off my bags at ACB Backpackers, got some food, toured the nearby neighbourhood, checked in with Magic Bus (my tour company) and returned to check my bags into my room it was already 1pm. It seemed like a late start but I managed to pack the afternoon. I took a ferry across the bay to a Cape Cod-esque community called Devonport where I got some good exercise tramping up Mount Victoria. At 81m it's hardly a mountain but it is quiet a hike especially if you fore go the winding pavement for a straight push up the grassy side. I was glad I went, the view was well worth it.
I followed that with the Auckland Museum. Oops! There is an Auckland Museum and an Auckland ART Museum and you better be specific or you end up at the wrong one. Combine with a less than thorough reading of a bus chart and you end up at the museum 20 minutes before it closes, or at least I do. The guards were incredibly nice and understanding. They let me sneak in with my daypack even though I was supposed to check it and one of them walked me straight over to the Maori art section which is what I had come to see.
After a quick dinner I headed over to the "Sky Tower" at the "Sky City Complex." It's a small CN tower with a casino and mall at the base. It's the tallest building in the southern Hemisphere. I find they use he "southern hemisphere" as a qualifier to make many of the local sights sound a bit more important. I figured I'd give it a look anyway. I'm glad I did because as I arrived there were Polynesian dancers in the city square out front giving demonstrations. They were great.
The tower itself was not a stand out but it was also a grey day so visibility was low.
I finished the day in The Globe a backpackers pub underneath my hostel. It was the most incredible hostel pub I've ever seen. It was like any other bar except it was hopping on a Monday night. A great part of the backpacking experience is the swirls of social activity at the pubs and on the buses. It doesn't matter if you drink, it's just good to hang out with people and I spent the night chatting with my roommate for the nigh who was an IT guy from Orange County and a Masters Art Student from Whales.
To keep things tidy I'm going to do as many posts as I can today/tomorrow but separate them into bite size chapters. I'm in Wellington right now.