You might have heard that Aotearoa is a beautiful place - in fact, there is so much amazing scenery here that many movies have been filmed in various parts of the country, like The Lord of the Rings, the Hobbit, the Chronicles of Narnia, and the live action remake of Mulan. When I was applying for my Fulbright to come here, I definitely knew that I wanted to explore! Luckily, the public transportation here makes it easy to get around.
In Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland), there are buses, trains, and ferries, as well as lots of bike lanes! In Hawaiʻi, I also bike a lot to go places, but biking in Hawaiʻi can sometimes be dangerous because drivers are not always very aware of cyclists and the infrastructure is not always very safe. (I am very happy to see that the King Street bike lane is getting extended in downtown Honolulu!) Here in Tāmaki Makaurau, on the other hand, there are lots of people who love to bike, and so there are awesome protected bike lanes (separate from the road, or with a divider between the bikes and the cars) that go all over the place! In addition, some buses go all throughout Auckland - you can ride the bus for 2-3 hours and still be in Auckland, that's how big of a city it is! There are also East, West, and South trains, and ferries that go north.
