28th Februrary

After a very noisy night, I woke up a bit late with little or no plan, so I randomly decided to cross the bay to the small suburb of Devonport. Was a bit early for ferry, so chilled in a cafe, t hat actually served americanos. Ferry was $9 return and quite fast. The Devonport ferry port has loads of little privately run shops, which I had a quick gander in before walking out into the blissful blue skies and sun. It's worrying the amount of San Francisco comparisons I've been making but this place is Auckland's Sausalito. Quaint, relaxed, beautiful and sunny. I wandered around the little shops, chilling int he number of 2nd hand bookshops and failing to find the two books I'm currently looking for.

I checked out my Lonely Planet and decided to trek up Mt Victoria in my flippity floppities. The walk up was great, blindingly hot and deserted. Views across the town and out to Auckland were amazing. After dawdlering for a while, I reaced the summit and chilled, taking in the views and playing on a "disappearing gun" battlement, that they had there. I took the shorter road down and grabbed fish (taikiki) and chips from a grumpy chippie and watched the world go by. Afterwards, I strolled along Duders Beach and Torpedo Bay, enjoying the Sun and some good music. I wasn't sure what to do at the end, so just carried on strolling up to North Point, the other extinct volcano in Devonport (after Mt Victoria). After a windy trek up past various battlements, I made it to the top and found a random hut (the old stone kitchen) with a film playing, about the fort there. Was interesting and gave my feet a rest for 15 minutes. After my descent, I wandered along the residential streets, admiring the beautiful houses and the sun. I grabbed the ferry back across and returned moderately triumphantly to the Hostel.

In the evening I played in a supermarket and ate in Revive again, but not before spending insane amounts of money on Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell. Books are shockingly expensive here, cheapest I could find it was $26.99!!!