… our final port before heading to the airport.
Thanks to the efforts of our friend Liandra in Excursions, we were able to book a full-day tour of Auckland, plus a transfer to the airport. Without these arrangements we would have been saddled with our luggage for the day, or restricted to the airport. Instead we got to see the best of Auckland!
Auckland is the largest city in New Zealand, with 1.2 million inhabitants. (The entire country is just a little over 4 million people.) Housing prices are very high, with many homes in the million dollar range. In one neighborhood near the ocean, the cheapest homes are more than $6 million! Auckland has beautiful houses, interesting churches, and miles of beaches. Like Wellington, many of the most exclusive houses are on the hillsides, with views of the sea. Auckland is bordered by two oceans: the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean. With only a forty minute drive from one shore to the other, you can easily swim in both oceans in the same afternoon.
We stopped first in historic Devonport for a quick look at some of the charming shops. On the road again, the bus hugged the coastline. The city skyline looks great from any angle!
Next stop: Auckland’s Sky Tower, standing tall among the other buildings in Auckland. We had a spectacular view of Auckland from the observation deck, on the tower’s 52nd floor. Some panels in the floor were made of plexiglas, providing a clear view straight down – 52 stories. We glimpsed the Oosterdam in the harbor(over my right shoulder). A five-story Santa Claus at a downtown store. And the Auckland Harbor Bridge.
One of the tower’s big attractions is a bungee jump or free fall from the top. While we were there, two intrepid adventurers set out to jump. Outside, we saw them as they jumped. The man is the tiny speck that looks like a spider at the center top of the picture.
Here he is magnified. This was the only picture I managed to take of the descent! It was over quickly. I believe the speck on the left is the woman, who was a split second behind him.
Back on the road, we stopped at the Dove Myer Robinson Park, named for Auckland’s longest-serving and most beloved mayor. The park is a rose garden, with hundreds of varieties on display. Beautiful!
We drove next to Parnell, an upscale neighborhood, for a lunch and shopping break. We ate at Burger Fuel, which thoughtfully provided little cardboard – Doofers? We carefully assembled the Doofers, still not sure what they were; a family at a neighboring table told us the'yre used to hold your burger together, as Frank demonstrates. How handy!
One of us admired the fanciful “fascinators” or outlandish hats in the store windows, including these two views of the same improbable hat. One small gust of wind and it’s all over!
Then it was time for Kelly Tarlton’s Sea Life Aquarium! Housed in an old water treatment plant, the aquarium is Kelly’s attempt to show non-divers what divers see underwater. There were many displays – Antarctica, seahorses, jellyfish, stingrays – but the most captivating was the penguin area, said to be the largest penguin exhibit in the world. The penguins were behind glass, but so close you could really see them. On suitor brought his intended a rock he apparently swiped from someone else. You can see him dropping it at her nest. She was not pleased and squawked at him until he slunk away, leaving the pebble behind. Perhaps she wanted a diamond?
The aquarium had the requisite shark tube, and a lovely tropical fish area. The aquarium was our last stop before heading for home.
But then a funny thing happened on the way to the airport. We rounded a corner and there was a very loud “bang!” The driver stopped the bus, hopped out, and on returning, announced that we had blown a tire! You can see the large split from about 1:00 to 3:00 in the first photo. He immediately phoned for a replacement bus, and contacted a tire repair guy as a backup. The repairman won, finishing up just as the other bus arrived. The repair process brought out the supervisory staff … it was very impressive that the guy, who had moves and tools fit for a Nascar pit crew member, never removed the cigarette from between his lips during the entire process…
We arrived safely at the airport, and waited for our flight to LAX. After an 11 1/2 hour flight, leaving Auckland at 10:45 pm, we landed at LAX at 2:00 pm the same day!in the afternoon. As the pilot explained it, LAX is 3 hours ahead of Auckland - but a day behind! We were back from the future and home in Coronado by 6 pm. Another trip to remember!
No comments:
Post a Comment