Report #116 Auckland, New Zealand March 2, 2020 Monday Mostly cloudy & 68 degrees

Located on the North Island of New Zealand, Auckland is situated between two sparkling harbors on a thin strip of peninsula. Considered one of the nicest cities in the world, it has earned the name of "City of Sails", due to the fact that so many locals own a boat of one kind or another. It is said that over one quarter of the population of all New Zealanders populate this capital city.

The Maoris settled here as early as 1350AD, however, due to wars and epidemics, by 1840 when the Europeans arrived, the area was almost deserted. Happily, these days, Auckland has the biggest concentration of Polynesians in the world.

And this city is a favorite one of ours. We have taken some memorable tours here, which included city site-seeing, visits to Kelly Tarleton's Sea Life Aquarium, America's Cup Village, and a dinner at the top of the Sky Tower at 1072 feet high.

Out of town has many excellent excursions like a day at wineries, a day trip to the Waitomo Glow Worm Caves, a drive to see a mainland gannet colony, or a visit to a rural sheep station to watch the sheep dogs and shearing demo…..a must do. A ride across the iconic Auckland Bridge takes you to Devonport Village, a suburb where many folks shop and have a nice lunch. Waiheke Island is accessed by a high-speed ferry, and a fun way to spend a day at a beach, tour wineries, and have lunch. The good thing is that we will have two days here to explore. Oh yes, there is a bridge climb for $110, a bargain, compared to the Sydney Harbor Bridge climb, which goes for $600. Wow.

The Amsterdam arrived to the dock by 7am, and the ship was cleared by 8am. Hamish had to repeat the New Zealand Quarantine Regulations not once, twice, but at least four times by 10am. The restricted items are the same ones in most ports we visit, but here, they are strict. Hamish emphasized that there would be a $400 New Zealand fine for any breaches of the laws. That computes to $253 US dollars. Last year, one of us had left a bamboo hand fan in the bag, and it was questioned. Since it was not food, the official let it slide, however, it was removed when we went off of the ship the following day. Another thing was we were required to have a "current" US ID, such as a passport or a driver's license. Several years ago, we had carried an expired driver's license, and it was OK. A few years back, one of the guards caught the expired date, and almost did not let us back into the terminal. We immediately exchanged them with the current licenses.

We went for our usual breakfast, and noticed that the dining room was opened for lunch. This only happens on embarkation day, which happened to be today. We were informed that 30 passengers left the ship here, and 23 boarded. We know that some of the crew went home from Auckland, instead of Singapore. So that means they will be replaced with new crew members too. And we were told that at least one new couple reported to friends onboard that they will have their temperatures checked daily for at least 14 days. Not sure if that is the rule for all of the newly-embarked, but it should be.

Then we left the ship around 10am, but were disappointed that we did not have our bag checked. We saw no dogs either. Looked like their main targets were the guests on bus tours, as they like to take snacks with them for the bus ride. Only commercially bottled water was allowed to be taken off of the ship. Hamish may have mentioned it was OK to take off wrapped chocolates and biscuits (cookies) as well.

Last year, the streets outside the terminal were dug up, and guess what? They still were. This major construction job will last until the end of the year we read. The worst intersection was Quay Street and Hobson. We found our way around the side streets, and headed towards Queen Street. Once we spotted the Sky Tower, we turned left on Victoria Street. Then we had a very steep climb up the hill to Albert Park. We found that all of the flower beds were being watered with sprinklers. It looked like Auckland really needs rain soon, because of the grassy fields were brown and dying. This is the beginning of their autumn, and they are expecting rain soon.

After taking many photos, we walked among the dozens of students that come to this quiet park to study or eat a bag lunch. At one end of the park, we located the footbridge, Wellesley Street East, which crosses over a busy street below. Walking up the street, we turned left on Symonds Street, past the old church, now being restored, then past the old Symonds Cemetery.

Crossing over on Grafton Bridge, we ended up at the entrance to Auckland Domain, a huge park area with a stadium and the Winter Garden. This unique garden consists of two barrel-vaulted Victorian style glass houses, which contain a myriad of flowers and a water feature with tropical plants. The center between the glass houses is a sunken pond with fountains. In the back, there is the Fernery, which is a cool area that duplicates the rain forest. It sure is a nice place for avid gardeners like us, as we appreciate the rare and spectacular plants that are grown in this part of the world. Many of the local varieties of plants are also grown in our home state of California.

Time to move on, we walked out the back of the gardens to find the impressive Auckland War Memorial on top of the knoll. This stately building houses an extensive collection of Maori and Pacific Island artifacts. Of the many carvings, the most memorable one was an 82 foot Maori canoe, that had been carved from one trunk of a totara tree. There is also exhibits of WWI and WWII chronicling the years of those wars and the involvement of the New Zealanders.

From there, we followed Stanley Street walking under some of the largest elms, oaks, and sycamore trees. This road led to the Parnell Village, which is full of cafes, bars, boutiques, as well as churches and small businesses. Halfway down the road, we found the Mink Café, where we had lunch a year ago. It was wonderful to stop and relax for an hour, as we had already walked for almost 3 ½ hours.

First thing we ordered were Asashi Japanese draft beers, followed with an order of the burger of the day. That turned out to be a grilled chicken sandwich, which we shared. We had forgotten that it came with a side of fries, so we ordered another side to share. Can never have enough fries, which were served hot right from the kitchen. Since the weather was heavily overcast, but not cold, we only needed one beer each today. And we had intended to try the WIFI, but forgot until we were almost ready to leave. The Kindle needed refreshing, so will have to do it in the terminal or at lunch tomorrow.

On the way home, we made a stop at Countdown, the local grocery store. It was in the process of being remodeled, but we did find most everything we needed. Mostly little room snacks. Earlier this morning, we had talked with one of the passengers we know who told us some of her friends complain that sometimes they wake up at 2 or 3am, and are hungry. Imagine that? So they love cities like today, where you can pick up familiar chips, candy, or cookies, or whatever makes you happy in the middle of the night. Have to admit we have a ziplock of some soda and graham crackers in our room just for that reason. At the times we went off on the first tender boat without breakfast, those crackers were fine.

We made it back to the ship by 4pm, and spent the rest of the day relaxing and working on the computer. And the nice thing was that the internet was working today. We also took the time to make a few phone calls from our computer, but only making contact with one family member. This is something new to us, and it is really nice that it worked.

All of us were present for dinner at 8pm, although every one of us was tired from the day's activities. All but us had gone to Devonport for shopping and lunch, which they all enjoyed. Fish and chips was the favorite entrée, but the blue-lipped mussels were a far second. We called it a night by 9:30pm, so our waiters could go off the ship and have some free time.

The best thing is that we have another full day to explore and enjoy Auckland. Even though the all onboard time is 5:30pm, a mandatory Passenger Emergency Muster Drill is scheduled for 4:15pm. Sometimes the drill is only for the newly-embarked, but the daily newsletter did not say that. Will have to call the front desk on this one.

Bill & Mary Ann


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