Wandering and Exercise

Today I decided to head out in search of a park in order to do a bit of exercise and try and keep on the track of health. The first few days in Auckland have been spent wandering about and relaxing often with far too much fast food so I need to get a grip on things and start sticking to my health plan. It doesn’t really help that I hadn’t yet been able to find a supermarket and all the convenience stores just have the usual crisps and crap charged at silly prices!

I ended up taking a walk to Victoria Park and did some jogging and core work before heading onwards in a random direction until I found a big paved hill / drive way. It looked like it was going to be a horrible challenge so I decided it would be a good idea to do sprint intervals, running all the way up the hill and then walking back down. As I reached the top it was all worth it. Not for the view or some epic landmark but just because the building at the top said “Victory” on it and it made me feel like a giant. To be fair though after the 5th run I kinda felt like dying a little before I carried on my walk and found myself again hanging about at the docks.

When we walked about at the docks yesterday everything was winding down to a close as it was quite late on in the day, however today I found myself there in prime time and was able to see the activities in all its glory. As it happens the Volvo Ocean Race is currently in Auckland with all the teams and crews docked here until they set sail for Itajia, Brazil in a few days time. The area is alive with crew members and people working for Volvo manning the stands and various installations. Since I had nothing better to do I decided to take a wander into the Volvo exibition centre and had a play with some of the games they had there, one of which being a digger simulator. After finishing the simulator they then told me there was a game outside with a real digger if I wanted to give it a shot and so naturally I had to oblige and have a little play.

After that I also checked out a self parking car before heading to a cross section of one of the ships to take a look at what it would actually be like to be in one of them which was pretty cool especially along side its mini Lego replica. It was a nice surprise to kind of just bump into an event like that and see all the life and activity it generates.

While heading home I passed a craft beer market and had to partake in a pulled pork sandwich which was awesome before heading back to the hostel to change. One of the people that I met in Thailand gave me the details of a gym to check out in Auckland which was pretty close to where I’m staying and teaches BJJ. I got in touch with them and they invited me down for a session so I got to do a little more working out and having fun before the day was over. Finishing the session left me feeling dead but accomplished. I am glad I’ve managed to do so much today but now I am really ready for my bed!

oh one last thing I forgot to mention. I walked past a building that was like a multi-story car-park but for boats! stacked to the high roof and packed. Quite a crazy site!