Honk if you love Auckland!
by Amy Williams
It’s time to get something off my chest: my name is Amy, and I’m a JAFA. For life.
I’m Auckland born and bred. I spent my childhood swimming at Mission Bay, going to family events in the Domain, shopping in Newmarket or St Lukes and getting excited when we drove over the harbour bridge.
I was educated here - not just at school and university, but in the really useful stuff: how to get home without getting stuck in rush hour traffic; where to find the best burgers, op shops or hairdressers; which bars have All Blacks in them after Eden Park games…
Auckland just gets me. It knows when to put on a nice sunset down by the harbour when I’ve had a bad day. It provides me with plenty of things to do on the weekends, and it’s full of people I like.
Of course there are things I could do without. I hate the changeable weather and the way you can’t get public transport from one side to the other without stopping and paying again in the middle. And I’m not stupid; I know there are other cities all over the world that kick Auckland’s arse in certain areas, because I’ve visited them and I loved my time there.
But Auckland is my first love, and I will be forever faithful to it. So it pains me a little to find myself in Whangarei, here in the so-called “winterless north”. I’m here for a week, and you know what’s driving me nuts? There’s NO TRAFFIC.
Or rather, there is - for about ten minutes, twice a day, on a couple of the main streets around town. It’s kind of cute really. But I’m missing the stonking great snarl-ups that Auckland puts on where an aerial view of Spaghetti Junction shows every single motorway bumper-to-bumper. Now that’s a traffic jam.
The thing about Auckland traffic is after you’ve manoeuvred your way through it and come out unscathed, you feel like you’ve achieved something. There’s no merit in sitting at the lights in the sticks… especially when you’re just five minutes away from your destination in the first place.