When we decided to move to New Zealand, we knew we'd need to live near Auckland, which is the biggest city here, and also where I report to work every day. We didn't want to rent something permanent right away, so we decided to start with Airbnb's until we knew where we'd want to put down some roots. So, as the title says, our first stop was west Auckland near the Waitakere Ranges in the Henderson Valley. We are definitely in the country or as they say here, "the bush." Our current home is a small one room cottage that backs up to the bush with endless trees, birds and bugs. As most of you know, we aren't particularly fans of the city, so this area has suited us.
This is the view when you turn off the main road, pretty spectacular.
The only bad part about living in west Auckland is the traffic. I knew, with my extensive research of google maps, that it would take me about an hour to get to work. However, google maps didn't tell me what traffic was like, big mistake on my part. To avoid as much traffic as possible, I wake up stupid early and head to work around 5:45am. I love the mornings, not. However, I get off work around 3pm, so it's give and take.
To give you a better picture, take a look at my lovely drawing of my commute. The pink box is our current "home," the blue box is work and that section in the middle is the 7th circle of traffic hell. I am learning the backroads, but as soon as I do, we'll be moving to our next spot, south Auckland.
The most redeeming quality of west Auckland is quick access to some amazing west coach beaches, like Piha and the Northlands.
We visited The Bay of Plenty last weekend (Northlands) - I'll post about it soon. It was pretty epic.
No adventures this upcoming weekend, we get to do adult things like buy a new vehicle - we'll see if it's as bad as buying a car back home.