Some Cool Stuff here

So a mate of mine told me I was going to hate the traffic problems they have in Auckland and I'd read about them so I was expecting the worst. Well I'm happy to say that so far I'm completely underwhelmed by the 'problems' they have. Perhaps living on the North Shore makes it easy or perhaps after living in sydney, where places like the M2 can be giant carparks, then Auckland's woes are really nothing in comparison.

Getting around is actually quite easy. Being used to Sydney traffic, if I have to go somewhere I get on google maps and suss out all the streets and try to find the parking garages. But the few times I've been into Auckland central it's been a breeze to find parking and not really the big deal I've turned it into.

Outside of peak traffic driving around the road up here on the East Coast Bays roads is like Sunday every day. Quite funny really.

My mate chortled when he said that traffic is so bad they have traffic lights on the on ramps to slow the traffic down going onto the motorway. I must admit that nearly made me rethink our move. But, as it turns out, I think these are actually a really good way of keeping the traffic moving. Apparently it's an idea taken from those crazy yanks. Perhaps this is something that Sydney could well do with.... of course they could always just fix their bloody public transport.

Now that bring me to public transport in Auckland. OK they definitely have some issues that need ironing out. Bridge too small. No railway line to the North shore. More railway lines needed. But they actually appear to be doing something about it. The Britomart building at the bottom of Queen Street is truly a beautiful building.

The dedicated road for buses on the North Shore is another system that really is awesome. You can park your car next door to the bus stations along the route - FOR FREE I might add - And within 20 minutes you can be in central Auckland. Brilliant!

Another scene which is great to see is kids walking home from school. What a novel idea. Perhaps they could try that in Sydney. That would take a few cars, especially those badly driven four wheel drives, off the road. And blow me down, kids might actually get some exercise. I've been told they also have this system for the younger kids called a 'walking bus'. Basically its where the kids who live on the same route are picked up along the way by their peers and a parent, and all walk to and from school in a convoy. It's a system used in Europe and the UK. Very cool.

The weather maps on the news are really cool. All 3D and quite informative.