Kia Ora, everyone!  Here we are in Auckland. 

it is a very pleasant city with an attractive harbour with lots of large cruisers lined up.  The Cunard boat, Queen Victoria, is towering over the piers at the moment. There is lots going on here at the moment with 93 cranes on the horizon.  The waterfront has been redeveloped with pretty upmarket shops, a new rail station and heaps of eating areas. As the city was built on 53 extinct volcanoes, it is very hilly - good exercise for us.

We had a good flight over arriving at 5.30am so we were in town by 6.30! It was still dark! Fortunately we were able to get into the apartment and could then have a sleep.  We had a nap then mosied  off into the town which was just a couple of streets away.  We are in a very handy spot and the apartment is very nice.  It is in a up-market hotel with resort - style facilities, Daniel.  

After a bit of a walk around, Tony went off to visit Eden Park stadium and I poked around the city with a bit of a bus trip over the harbour.  We met up again and had tea at the fish market.

The next day, we took the ferry over to Waiheke Island for a wine tour which is not something we normally do but it was good fun. A bit odd to be drinking wine at 11.00am.  We visited 3 wineries and tasted about 12 wines.  We were very good friends by the end of the tour!  We stopped for lunch at this very lovely winery and I had such a delicious meal of lamb. After that, we wobbled off to the ferry and had a little sleep on the way home.  The island was just beautiful, by the way.  Lots of green vegetation, little bays and beautiful beaches.

Saturday morning, we went for another tour, this time walking around the city centre learning a bit about the history.  It was interesting and covered quite a bit of the city.  The tour guide wasn’t the most personable guide but she gave us coffee and scones in a very nice hotel so that made it ok. Also we made some new friends from Australia- 2 sisters from Queensland, one of whom worked in Tax Office- so you can imagine, Tony had a great time catching up on the gossip!

Here are a few snaps of the tour. 

Clock tower at the University and below is the inside of the tower.

Below is a Maori meting house and one of the 93 cranes!

And our new friends!

Another building - this time Polynesian. 

And these are New Zealand pineapples? 

This is a doorway. 

The Town Hall

The old theatre, very beautiful building. 

and that was our tour.

that was Saturday morning after which we caught another ferry across to Devonport for a bit of a look around.  Pretty suburb with lots of wooden houses and views over the harbour.

this morning we went off to mass at the lovely Cathedral which is sitting quietly in the next street.  It was surprising how modest a building it is - more like St Francis than St Pat’s.  The afternoon was taken up with a walk out to Ponsonby and a small trip to a material shop for me whilst tony went a golf shop!

In the morning, we are off early to catch the train to Wellington which is supposed to be very scenic.