Auckland: The City of Sails, traffic and serenity that will surprise you

We came to a complete standstill on the motorway head­ing north for at least 45 minutes

I never expected to like Auckland. Well, correction: people told me I wouldn’t like Auckland, and I believed them.

When I decided to move here from Christchurch nigh on two years ago, everyone I knew had the same response: “Why do you want to go there? It’s busy, the traffic is terrible, it’s expensive.” And the list went on.

I started to wonder what I was getting myself into.

And, especially in the first few months, living in Auckland was a shock to the system.

Auckland is busy, and the traffic is terrible, that is true. And I just wasn’t prepared for it.

After my first two weeks, I decided to take a trip with my brother and his family to Tāwharanui Regional Park for Auckland Anniversary weekend.

We Google-mapped the directions and gave ourselves just over an hour to get there. Rookie mistake.

We came to a complete standstill on the motorway head­ing north for at least 45 minutes. As a rurally raised girl, I had never even seen anything like it.

Then there was the fateful, three-hour drive to Hamilton on an Easter Good Friday, resulting in a grumpy and road-raged Zahra.

But, for all its faults, the city has a lot going for it. In the past few weeks, I have realised I have fallen in love with Auckland. Its most attractive factor? Its simplicity.

If Christchurch is the Gar­den City, then Auckland should have an equally nature-related name. Something like Outdoor-Lovers Paradise (just off the top of my head).

The city’s vast size means you can access hills, sea, forest, and walking trails that make you feel like an intrepid explorer, all only 30 minutes’ drive away.

I know I’m speaking from an outdoorsy perspective, but it’s these aspects that really made me start to see Auckland as home.

In the latest Alert Level 3, unable to go to the gym, I would go for an early-morning run.

From my viewpoint at the top of North Shore’s Kennedy Park steps, more commonly known as the “Stairs of doom”, I would watch the sunrise as the light made its way up behind Rangitoto Island.

There is something magnificent about that scene: seagulls mid-flight, the sun blazing out across the water, the reflec­tions leaving little kaleidoscopes of pinky-orange light on the wooden stairs.

And though I had been upset about being in another lock­down, wishing I was in Christchurch with my family, these early-morning scenes made me stop, re-evaluate and appre­ciate what I have literally on my doorstep.

Last year, friends and I kayaked with a tour guide from Mission Bay to Rangitoto. We docked, walked up to the summit and back down again, making our return kayak trip after nightfall.

With a light each on the back of our kayaks, we glided along the dark, calm waters. The only sound was the lapping of the water, and we could see the city lights on the horizon as we edged closer.

When I forget about the noise, the traffic and busy­ness, I see that Auckland has a certain serenity about it.

On a Sunday night, I took a trip up the Sky Tower in the CBD with a friend, and we spent a few hours up there, just looking out of the window, pointing out different places we recognised.

Then the sun set over the harbour, giving us another spectacular sight.

It’s definitely the simple things.