Auckland, NZ

Fri 6 Feb, 2009 - Whitianga to Auckland
A nice early morning windy drive around the mountains and down toward Paeroa which is famous for L&P (lemon and paeora) drink which tastes a little like the Dr Pepper or other caffeinated fizzy beverages you can get. L&P is pretty well only found in NZ. I am led to believe it never took off anywhere else even with coke taking over production of it. Swapped buses and was in Auckland around lunch. It is Waitangi day - a public holiday based on a treaty signed between the Maori Leaders and Britain. (In a couple of days we will be heading to the Bay of Islands which is where Whitangi is located.) This meant no bridge climb - a bit disappointing but can’t be helped. Wandered around Auckland in the afternoon - was amazing how many shops were open considering it was a holiday. There was a buskers festival on here as well and there were gatherings of people at different points around town.

Later in the afternoon/early evening Jen arrived. I had planned on doing some dance classes not figuring that being a holiday the studio wouldn’t be open - this meant I was at the hostel to meet up with her on arrival. Luckily as I had booked in earlier we got the same room. Everyone that was checking in at the same time were ending up wherever there was a bed left. Also extremely lucky that we even got a bed (especially as whilst I was standing there they were turning people away!) as Jen had booked the beds for March not Feb - right dates, wrong month!! Anyway it all worked out and we got the beds at significantly reduced rate due to I guess March being a low tourist time and possibly since we booked online in advance. Anyway with a roof over our heads and settled in we went wandering.


Made way down to the marina where there were numerous large racing yachts docked. The Louis Vuitton Yacht Race was on and had been for a number of days. It is a round robin event with boats (sorry … yachts) from around the world - though not Australia. There were two round robin heats and then went into quarter, semi and finals. The funny thing was that regardless of placing in the heats the NZ team went directly to the final. I guess it is their event in their country, and I don’t know the stats but maybe they are the team to beat!!

From here went back uptown to Albert Park where the Chinese New Year Lantern Festival was having its opening night. I had been to the park in the afternoon and had some daylight (no lantern) shots. Now at early evening there were people everywhere and lanterns were glowing - still not greatly obvious as the sun was yet to set. Had some Chinese for dinner down the road and then went back later in the evening. When got back the opening ceremony was coming into full swing with a variety of performances - music, dance and of course lions. One of the stage performances was a puppet lion dance and the way the puppeteers manoeuvred the 10 puppets and 40ish strings was amazing. A few fireworks and the night was bubbling. The lanterns were amazing. Generators at every other tree to run power to the hundreds of lanterns. most lanterns were so large that they required multiple globes. Don’t quite know what my favourite was though there were many animals from the domestic to dinosaurs- some more life sized than others! And even cut watermelons hanging from the branches of a tree. The water dragons had moving heads and were the centre feature in the parks fountain. A very vibrant atmosphere overall.



Sat 7 Feb, 2009 - Auckland
Started the morning with the aim to get the last two weeks of my activities posted on my blog. Didn’t get very far - the computers at Magic head office are archaic to say the least. The library was not yet open and then finally found a café to connect into. So with limited time as had agreed to meet Jen, (I now need to compromise) I didn’t get much done at all. At least the coffee was good!

Went up the Sky Tower and had great views across the city on a warm, clear morning. Went to the main observation deck, which in sections the floor was clear so you could see past your feet directly down to the ground - 60 floors or so. Jen’s fascination for heights isn’t as strong as mine!!

Watched a couple of people jump off the building - there was even a countdown so you could watch the jumps. Went to the upper deck which at only a few floors further up didn’t look much different.

From here walked to the Victoria Markets, which we discovered weren’t only a weekend thing but 7 days. It was actually rather dull. A relatively large building but very little inside. Whilst predominantly souvenir shops there was nothing new that I hadn’t seen throughout the rest off NZ. Paddy’s Markets are so much better! Traipsed up hill, (up the volcanic remnants) to the Auckland domain via the university and hospital (don’t think we took the most direct route but I enjoyed the look around town. Within the domain was the War Memorial Museum. Wouldn’t call it a War Memorial as such other than the original purpose of the building. It was much more of a museum, very similar, though not as big, to the Te Papa in Wellington. Jen went through I sat and read!

From here went back to the hostel and went to the Globe bar downstairs where they were having a Free Pizza night. Dominoes - not the best but good for a change. A lot of walking in the heat and my feet are a little tired so not having to go far for food was nice.