Auckland

So, my last day away, the final hours of my trip. Once again I’m sat in Starbucks-still in Auckland but a different Starbucks- watching the world go by. This is actually quite easy to do in Auckland as everything and everyone, including the girl making my Tall Hot Chocolate, moves at snails pace. There is no hustle and very little bustle; the traffic flows calmly and without significant delay, the people walk without the purpose of a Londoner or the swagger of a Sydney-sider and what is more, nobody is dressed for ‘work’. There is a distinct lack of young professionals usually synonymous with major cities; instead the streets are populated by weary travellers (weary from negotiating the country’s steep gradients), a large oriental population and a worryingly significant number of ‘dodgy types’. Too be less vague, by this I mean the homeless, the drunks, vagabonds and general troublemakers. Of course I shouldn’t be passing judgement on the homeless and their plight but you can’t help but notice the slightly dingy and down-trodden atmosphere.
This being said, in many respects Auckland is a developed, metropolitan and thriving business district with a high and in places impressive skyline. The view of the city one gets when 142m up the Sky City tower is fantastic and although the city is not particularly big it is certainly impressive on the eye. Likewise the Waterfront is a beautiful and seemingly classy area, filled with sea-front seafood restaurants and trendy bars overflowing with contented Kiwis. It is a shame then, that with such beautiful surrounding suburbs as the volcanic Island of Devonport, that Auckland itself is not as habitable. Just the other night I was witness to what appeared to be ‘gang-based violence’, from my observations gang culture is very much in existence in New Zealand, while several taxi drivers have warned me of the dangers of walking the streets surrounding my hostel after dark. As I glance outside, I notice it has started to rain; the end of summer over here in the southern hemisphere, the start of summer back in England, so, back home to more rain