When Kristina and I were planning this trip we tossed up between hiring a car for our six weeks on the road (costing somewhere around the $2,000 mark) or buying a car for the trip and selling it again afterwards. In the end we went with option number two - buy a decent car and try to sell it again for as close to what we bought it for, thereby saving us some money over the hire car option. The risks with doing that were a) the car craps out, and b) we can't sell it for a good price. To mitigate these risks we spent over a week trawling through online ads, car dealers, phone numbers, and going all over city looking for a car that was in good condition, mechanically sound, and had the potential to gain value rather than lose it. Also, I wanted something I could have a little fun with ;) We eventually found the perfect candidate - a 2000 Subaru Legacy RSK-B4 that needed a little TLC but under the bonnet it was as good as gold (according to the mechanic). I immediately set about taking care of the minor imperfections inside and out (tar on the paintwork, stone chips, scrape marks, loose bumpers and side skirt, oxidized headlight and so forth) but there was one big problem that would keep the car's value down. One of the previous owners put an aftermarket bonnet scoop on but it was far too low to the ground, so it hit speed bumps and driveways and potholes etc. It was cracked and buggered when I bought it, and over the course of this road trip it's only gotten worse (why anybody lowers their car is beyond me). Rather than have it fixed it was going to be cheaper and more sensible to simply replace it with a factory bumper. As luck would have it, the first wreckers/dismantlers I approached here in Auckland had just such a second-hand bumper in stock, and in white! Within an hour I had the old one off and the new one on. It'll still need a lick of paint from the panel beaters once we get back to Christchurch, but otherwise the car is good to sell (and I'm confident we'll get more for it than we paid for it, and the money I've put into it which also includes new tyres and brakes will be recouped).

After a few other car-related tasks that were much easier done in our largest city, it was mid-afternoon and the sky wasn't looking too good. So we headed out for an early dinner and called it a day there. Above is the view of the central Auckland skyline from near our accommodation. The big thing in the middle there is the Sky Tower. Standing at 328 metres, this telecommunications tower is the tallest free-standing structure in the Southern Hemisphere and an iconic structure in Auckland's skyline. There is an observation deck up there offering awesome views over the city, so we'll go check that out hopefully tomorrow now the car is sorted :)

Walking tour time! Lonely Planet often has suggested walking tours for large cities, so with our trusty guidebook open we set off.

The walk started on Karangahape Road (simply known as K Road), considered to be one of the cultral centres of Auckland and a hot spot for inexpensive restaurants and bars. It then led us down here to Myers Park, complete with kids' playground, for kids.

Then it was on to Queen Street, the commercial heart of Auckland. Today the city's population reached exactly 1.5 million (based on population growth averages) which has made big news. Almost a quarter of New Zealand's population calls Auckland home, and as well as being by far the largest, it's the most multicultural of New Zealand's cities. Political deals may be done in Wellington, but Auckland is the big smoke.

This is Aotea Square. Up until just a few days ago, this was the location of the Occupy Auckland protests. After 100-something days camped here, the city council finally ordered the protesters to all piss off and police were sent in to evict them. Apparently it got a little ugly but everybody was finally hauled away and this security fence erected. Later that night some of the protestors came back again, tore the fence down, and banged their tents back in again hahaha! What followed was a few days of to'ing and fro'ing between the police, the council, and the protestors, but currently all is calm. If only we'd been here a few days ago to see the action :(

From Aotea Square we were led to a small square with this tiling celebrating the suffragettes who won New Zealand women the right to vote before anywhere else in the world. That's right - New Zealand is all about the ladies.

Then we found the Auckland Art Gallery, sporting this piece of art outside. Since it was free we had a quick mosey around, but I'm not going to lie - art isn't really my bag (apart from photography ;)

From there we wandered through Auckland University - New Zealand's largest (this is their clock tower - nice)...

The Old Government House (the colony's seat of power before Wellington became the capital)...

And a former synagogue, somewhat overrun by nature.

After a few more interesting little nooks and crannies past high-end fashion stores and historic pubs, we were back on Queen Street and heading for Auckland's waterfront.

This is Viaduct Harbour, once a busy commercial port but given a major makeover leading up to the 2000 and 2003 America's Cup tournaments. It's now a fancy dining and boozing precinct with upscale apartments, and millionaires park their yachts here. Close to 150,000 yachts and boats and so forth fill Auckland's marinas, giving the city its most durable nickname: the 'City of Sails'.

We downed a cold one on the harbour as we watched the world go by, then made the slow commute through rush-hour traffic on the bus back to our accommodation. Hooray for bicycles is all I can say, however Auckland is also the city of volcanoes having been developed on and around volcanic cones, and as such there are no shortage of hills for the cyclists to contend with.

After dinner we jumped in the car in hope of getting some shots of the city at sunset but, as luck would have it, the sun disappeared behind cloud just as I got here hehe, damn it! Anyway, this is the Harbour Bridge, connecting the city to the North Shore.

And this is the shot I was hoping to get of the skyline bathed in golden sun, but I was about 15 minutes too late. That's the other thing about Auckland - the weather is famously fickle, and four seasons in one day is common.

The CBD by night. We didn't have time to go up the Sky Tower there today, but tomorrow is our last day here before we drive all the way back to Christchurch so it's on tomorrow's to-do list.

Our final day in Auckland today and we started it on this - the crater of Mt. Eden, Auckland's highest volcanic cone at 196m. From up here you get a great 360-degree views across Auckland, as well as the many other volcanic cones New Zealand's largest city is built around - about 50 of them in fact and they're not extinct. The last eruption occurred 600 years ago and no one can predict when the next one will occur, but it's apparently overdue.

Christchurch has been devastated by earthquakes, Wellington sits on so many fault lines that it's just waiting for same the treatment, and Auckland is built around a field of volcanoes overdue to erupt. Those are our three largest cities - heaven forbid they all happen to go at once. December 21st maybe ;)

Two more nearby cones. It is believed Mt. Eden was created approximately 15,000 years ago.

And that in the distance is Rangitoto Island, which was thrust up from the sea in the last eruption 600 years ago hehe, bloody hell!

Still looking down from Mt. Eden, this is Alexandra Park Raceway and overlooking it is One Tree Hill.

At 182m high, One Tree Hill (another volcanic cone) was once the greatest Maori fortress in the country back in the day. Up until 2000, a lone pine stood at the top of the hill. Maori activists attacked the tree in 1994, and destroyed it in 2000. This landmark achieved recognition in 1987 when U2 released the song "One Tree Hill".

From there we drove down to Mission Bay with its (apparently) popular beach along Tamaki Drive which is quite a scenic drive heading east out of the city along the waterfront.

Later on in the evening we finally made it to the Sky Tower!

There's a shop in there selling various memorabilia for The Lord of the Rings and other big-name films. Gollum here looks like he's taking a cheeky dump - I don't recall that scene.

Construction of the tower took 33 months and was completed in 1997. It's a whopping 328m high making it the largest free-standing structure in the Southern Hemisphere. To put that into perspective, it's just 4 metres taller than the Eiffel Tower. This is looking over the Harbour Bridge, Westhaven Marina, and the Viaduct Harbour.

This is a full 360-degree panorama of the Auckland CBD and beyond, shot from the main observation deck at 186 metres in the air. Full-size version here.

Just like with the Calgary Tower, the Sky Tower has glass floor panels to test your fear of heights, of which I have none.

Unlike Kristina hehe.

Sunset over Westhaven Marina - the 'car park' of millionaires.

And that was that for Auckland. There are many other things both in and out of the city that we could have seen had time permitted - it's a big place! Be that as it may, it was great for me to at least get to know the place a little because the reality is that if I am ever to eventually settle in New Zealand then this will probably be the place (for employment reasons).

And that was also that for our road trip of New Zealand! Tomorrow we start the 1000km drive back down to Christchurch. We'll be doing 650km down to Wellington tomorrow, catching the first ferry out the following morning across to Picton, and a further 350km to Christchurch - phew! We're in Christchurch for a few days before flying out to Melbourne on the 9th to start our Aussie adventures :)

We had a quick walk around my area of Kaiapoi (just north of Christchurch) today to check out some more of the aftermath. This area was royally fucked during the first of these earthquakes back on September 4th, 2010. These properties sit along this river bank which was thrust towards the river (the river is now about two metres narrower than it was prior to the quake). As such, most of the houses along here look a lot like the example above - the front of the house has moved towards the river while the rear has stayed put.

Twisted and mangled, and just waiting to be demolished. While a small number of houses escaped major damage and are still inhabited, this whole area is destined for the bulldozer, never to be rebuilt again. Those that have stayed have about another 18 months to vacate.

The quake hit at 4:35am on a Saturday morning, so folk were asleep in these houses when all of this happened - just imagine the noise this would have made and the horror of being inside! While nobody was killed this time, the more ferocious February 22nd quake just months later that stuck at 12:51pm took 181 souls on the day, and was later deemed responsible for a further three thereafter.

This temporary housing has popped up around the city to give those who were displaced a roof over their heads for the time being. Kia kaha Christchurch.