"Treasures of Cruising the World" with Bill & Mary Ann: Report #33 Auckland, New Zealand February 2, 2018 Friday Chance of sun & 74 degrees Part #1 Of 5 85 Pictures

According to Lonely Planet, Mother Nature took her best features and put them all in this South Pacific Gem called New Zealand. They do have it all: snow-capped mountains, fjords, beaches, rain forest, and active volcanoes. It is a haven for the outdoor folks, and another type of paradise for the wine lovers of the world. The “Kiwis” have a lust for life, and it certainly can rub off on the visitors, such as us.

The best time to visit is November to April for the sun. For snow, come in June to August. Besides excellent seafood and shellfish, grass-fed lamb is widely served. Hot off of the grill is best. And their favorite dessert has to be pavlova, a meringue cake topped with fruit and whipped cream. Sweet, sweet, sweet and most addictive.

Trademarks are the kiwi bird, All Blacks rugby team, bungy-jumping, and Lord of the Rings, and sheep…..lots of them.

Shore excursions offered 12 tours today from one hour to nine hours. The cost ran from $66 to $250. Waitomo Caves with the famous glow worms was one of the longest ones. Three hour ride each way, however. We have gone there twice in the past, swearing those glow worms were not real. They were. Another fun tour was to see the gannet colony, along with a visit to a sheep, cow, and deer farm. The best part of this tour was watching the dogs working the herd.

America’s Cup yacht ride was short, but also fun to say you’ve sailed in one of them. Waiheke Island by ferry is a good way to spend the day touring wineries and olive oil tasting. Different. Nearby Devonport is across the Auckland Harbour Bridge, a great place to visit. We have been to Kelly Tarleton’s Sea Life Aquarium at least twice, a fun tour to see penguins, among other sea life. Lastly, the city tour covers the highlights, and the duck tour, amphibious vehicle drive, is totally cool.

New Zealand has a English and Maori-speaking population of 4,316,000 people. The capital is Wellington, although Auckland is the bigger city, one of the loveliest in the world, according to local surveys. The Amsterdam pulled into Queen’s Wharf in Waitemata Harbour quite early this morning. Despite the rain and wind we experienced during the night, it was mostly sunny with clouds passing overhead all day. Boy, did we get lucky, as we heard from a local florist that the storm that went through here yesterday was a strong wet one. Then it headed north.

After breakfast, we took a walk on the promenade deck to take a closer look at what all of the waiters were watching from the dining room. There was a crane suspending a platform that had diners eating around a counter with 22 chairs that hung over the ground 100 feet below them. They were being served food by three or four waiters, who were tethered in the center section. Never have we ever seen anything like this. The name of the “hanging restaurant” was grandcordon. This must be a new addition, since we could not find any info on it. Kudos to these inventive folks.

The quarantine regulations are most strict here. When they say no food, flowers, seeds, or plants off of the ship, they mean it. We have heard of on-the-spot fines of $400 for infractions. Only commercially bottled drinking water is permitted to leave the vessel. If the officials do not find the food, their cute little beagles will. And you have to be very careful to bring an original government photo ID as well as your key card. Better be current too, or you may not be allowed back on the ship.

Leaving the ship, we ran into a couple that were boarding today, a daughter and son-in-law of Lee and Eddie. We met them last year when they came on for a segment of the world cruise, and they remembered us. Eddie, who has to be in his 90’s, was waiting for them, doing his emailing in the terminal. That is, until we sent him back onboard to go get Lee who was looking for him. It’s seldom that you don’t see them together. Nice for them to have family join them for a while.

Downtown streets were pretty torn up, but we did make our way around the closed streets. We found Albert street, and followed it uphill towards the 1072 foot Sky Tower, the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere. It is an iconic sight in Auckland. We have had the pleasure of dining in their Orbit 360 Restaurant years ago. The circular restaurant literally rotates 360 degrees, changing the spectacular view every hour. Since we have been inside the hotel many times, we took lots of photos of the tower instead. You can pay a small price to go to the top, and pay even more to bungy jump from near the top. Fun to watch others do it, you’d have to pay us to do this. Or, you can cheat, and appear to jump. Photos can be deceiving…..

Taking a left turn, we climbed the steepest hill yet, and found the entrance to Albert Park. There was much evidence of storm damage up here. Heavy limbs from some very old growth trees were being cleared by workers. The many flower beds were in bloom, and the grass was the greenest we have ever seen it. Benches line the walkways, a great place to catch your breath after hiking up here. Also a good spot for bird-watching. Usually there are flocks of silver gulls in this park, but they must have blown away in yesterday’s storm. Some of the trees are massive up here, obviously quite old. A convenient set of restrooms are also here…..clean and well-stocked, for those who need to know.

From here, we made our way to Grafton Road, passing an old cemetery, which has been preserved within the city. Auckland Hospital is also in this area, sitting high above the city. The entrance to Auckland Domain, the city’s oldest sprawling park, is an impressive one. The Auckland War Memorial Museum sits atop the park’s volcanic cone, housing a collection of Maori and Pacific Island artifacts. Twice on tours, we toured the museum, and found it an experience to remember.

Within the Domain is a most wonderful Winter Garden with 2 barrel-vaulted Victorian-style glass houses full of hothouse plants. The center has a sunken pond, and is surrounded with courtyards, statuary, benches, and beautiful blooming landscaping. Located on a meandering creek with ponds, is a café with more restrooms. We noticed a small group of HAL guests on a tour, enjoying the pastries and coffee or tea they serve here. Martha, our tablemate, happened to be one of the nine guests on that particular walking tour.

Taking many photos of this beautiful spot, we continued downhill towards the Parnell district, filled with Victorian villas, stylish shops, and upmarket boutiques. Among the several churches here, the largest one we saw was Holy Trinity Cathedral. By now, it was 1:30pm, and lunch was definitely on our minds. We always go to a place by the name of Windsor Castle, recalling they had good pizza and cold beer. It’s located towards the end of the steep Parnell Road. But when we got closer, we could see it was not opened for lunch anymore. Disappointed, we figured it was not worth going back uphill to the dozens of cafes we had passed.

Sometimes when one door closes, another opens up. Crossing the road, we entered a small café by the name of Mink Café. Guess what? They had a menu that included a variety of pizza, and better yet, Margherita pizza. So we ordered one pizza, a bowl of fries, and two cold bottles of beer. So far, this pizza may have been the best Margherita pizza we have eaten. Who knew? And adding a dessert of a brownie with ice cream and a biscotti cookie, we had enough energy to make our way back towards the ship after an hour of relaxing. And it was pretty much downhill the rest of the way…….easy walking.

On the way, we went to the supermarket, Countdown, where we found some room snacks such as Bluebird chips, dips, and a block of cheese for late afternoon snacks. The way back was through the Britomart neighborhood, which also has an eclectic collection of hip bars, cafes, and restaurants. Many passengers from the ship were dining in these places, which tend to be more for the wine drinkers we noticed.

One last stop at the ferry terminal for hokey pokey ice cream was disappointing. They did not offer it today. Whaaaaat??? The vendor said they alternate with other flavors, so we said, no thanks. At $6 NZD for one scoop in a cup, it was our favorite one-of-a-kind flavor, or nothing. With three more New Zealand ports, surely we will find hokey pokey elsewhere.

Spending some much needed time in our room for photo work, we headed out one more time around 6pm. The only area we had not explored was the America’s Cup yacht marina on the way towards the Wynyard Quarter. This whole place was really busy, since tonight was Friday, and the locals were jamming all of the bars in the marina. These kiwis are a party hardy young crowd for sure. We did not want to cross the Viaduct Bridge, because if it went up, we might be stranded for a while. We did notice that major construction was in progress with the addition of future apartments and business buildings.

Right before dinner, we went to deck eight to watch the elevated outdoor hanging restaurant prepare for another session. Even with a strong breeze blowing, the diners were strapped in, and lifted by 7:30pm. We were hoping to see what was on the menu food-wise, but once they went up, the plates were out of sight. Champagne was definitely the first course.

Too bad the sail out of the scenic harbor was during our dinner time. The sunset was impressive, despite watching it out of smudged windows. We had the veal piccata entrée with spaghetti covered with lots of tangy marinara sauce. The rest of our tablemates ordered the fish plate, and were happy campers.

Annie Gong was a familiar name as the entertainer tonight. She is an accordion player with a wide range of music selections.

Tomorrow will be another busy day in Tauranga.

Bill & Mary Ann

Notice anything wrong with this gift? Right year, wrong Grand Voyage.