The end of my time in Auckland

I’m leaving Auckland, after almost five months here. It feels like both a very long and very short time; forever since I went out of the airport and timidly arrived at Carlaw Park to with one bag move into my new flat. Then the first weeks of settling in and meeting my flat mates and a ton of international students. Exploring the city and to my dismay find that unlike Sydney which I’d just left, you can not leave Auckland with public transport. Then starting my studies and finding them both familiar and different, but importantly, all my courses felt good.

Auckland Domain Pond

Then followed three and a bit months of studying, interspersed with a lot of adventures, small and large. I would say that I’m over all very happy with my time in Auckland and I have learnt a lot both school wise and about myself. Especially as I moved out from my parents to go on this adventure, meaning this is the first real time living on my own (if you can call flatting living on your own). Even though not everything has gone as I’d hoped, I am so incredibly happy that I did put in the work to actually go through with this kinda insane idea. It really has been something I have had in the back of my mind ever since I first visited New Zealand more than 15 years and half a life ago.

Long Bay Regional Park

I really have experienced so much during this time, just look at everything in this blog. It’s 25 000 words so far, that’s a quarter of the average novel. From learning to dive and climbing a 2 600 meter tall volcano to watch the sunrise, to the quiet moments of self reflection in the Auckland Domain and all the people I have met. If it’s one thing I wish I’d done better, it is to engage more with all the friends I made: from the uni clubs (especially the roleplaying guild where my character has entered an early retirement from the Wildseas), the exchange students, my flatmates and the few kiwis I connected with through the actual school work.

The beachfront in Long Bay

The final great achievement of my time in Auckland is without a doubt that I have managed to talk myself into getting to write my thesis at Trimble in Christchurch this spring, starting in August. Which means I will be sticking around here in New Zealand for another half year, and getting to explore the South Island more as well. And cheating a bit with the timeline, as I have fallen a month behind on this, I can tell you that I am settling down in Christchurch with contracts for both the thesis and flatting signed

Karamatura Falls, Huia

On the 9th of July, I carried all my possessions this side of the world out of my flat in Carlaw for the last time. By this time they added up to one bag, one large sack of things, an Ikea bag of stuff, my backpack with everything valuable, a chillybin and three grocery bags. These I left in a friends flat while I went to the airport to pick up my home for the next two weeks, a small hybrid car, because I was hitting the road to give the North Island one final hurrah.

Mt Donald Mclean Lookout