AUKLAND, NEW ZEALAND

 FEBRUARY 1 - 3, 2023

Our ship captain had to cancel our first stop in New Zealand due to weather.  They have been deluged with rain… much like California was earlier this month.   So we docked in Auckland two days ago just before another downpour and high winds. Yesterday we were able to go ashore.  We had booked a tour of the Sky Tower and Aquarium.  The road to the Aquarium was flooded out and so they replaced that part with the Weta Film making museum.  That was an experience.   There are a lot of movies produced here… most notably the Lord of the Rings.   Weta specializes in the special effects.  Our tour guide was a nut and we had a lot of fun seeing how really weird things are created.  Their latest is Origens - a sci-fi extravaganza.   Leaving Weta we took a high-speed elevator to a viewing platform on the Sky Tower, the tallest structure in the southern hemisphere rising some 1076 ft.  We exited the elevator and all we could see was the gray of a dense cloud.  But, soon the clouds lifted and then we could see all of Auckland and surrounds. For a fee one can bungee jump from the 53rd floor down to a platform on the 30th.  We declined (budgetary concerns).  But we watched some fool do it.


Yesterday we first took a tour around Auckland.  Auckland is the largest city in New Zealand with a population of about 1.5 million or about a third of all of New Zealand.   The city reminds us of San Francisco and the Bay Area.  Our guide said it was the fourth most expensive city in the world in terms of housing costs.  It is a very interesting city made up with districts each of which each has its own distinct culture (much like SF).  The central downtown district has many high-rise condo/apartment buildings, restaurants and bars.  It is a very clean and modern city.  The population is about 20% Maori who were early settlers and who have significant political sway.


On our own we took a ferry to Devonport, a little town sorta like Sausalito.   We had lunch at a neat little restaurant in a building that dated to 1846.  Food was great.  Little incident there…they wouldn’t take AmEx, Discover or U.S. cash.   Leaving me as hostage/collateral, Rich traipsed all over town looking for a currency exchange, bank or ATM that would take our AE.   No luck! the nearest currency exchange was 10 miles away.   Rich offered to wash dishes.  In the end the head waiter took enough American cash to make it worth his while and we slithered out.  Lesson learned…take our Visa debit card and find out what they take before we place our order. 


Today we took a walking tour in downtown Auckland visiting 3 different sites that gave us a sampling of Auckland cuisine - a variety of cheeses, some outstanding dairy-free chocolates and ended up at the central fish market for lunch.   They can keep their oysters but everything else was excellent.  Our REI jackets really came in handy because of the intermittent showers.

                                               Downtown Aukland - note Sky Tower just right of center


                                           Ferry Building - similar design to Ferry Building in San Francisco


                                                   The assistant guide at the Weta Film Museum 


                                                        Vera doing an enhancement of her image


                                                    The main character in the new movie - Origens


                            View of a marina from Sky Tower - one in five New Zealenders own a boat


                                                       Sky Tower from the street




                                                On our way to the fish market

                                             a huge king crab.   Not sure whose planning to eat who.


Comments

  1. UnknownFebruary 8, 2023 at 5:35 PM

    Please text us all your gofundme account so we can donate to your world cruise fund account. No reason you should be missing out on adventures like bungee jumping due to budgetary concerns. ;)

    ReplyDelete

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