Auckland

On Friday, before heading to the airport, our group Ageless Adventures had arranged for us to take a local tour of Auckland. 

View of Auckland from cruise ship upon arrival

Since our flight wasn't until late afternoon, we had the morning to see the city. Our tour guide's name was Louise - the only day that our tour guide was not also the bus driver. 

Louise

Auckland is the largest city in New Zealand with a population of 1.7 million. Louise told us that New Zealand has four Kiwis: the bird, the fruit, the people, and the currency. 

We drove around the downtown area of Auckland where our cruise ship was docked. Auckland has a very vibrant downtown area. The focal point of the city of Auckland is the Sky Tower, which is a telecommunications and observation tower. It is 1076 feet tall, which makes it the second tallest building in the southern hemisphere. It is very prominent on all the pictures of downtown Auckland. It contains a casino, two hotels, and bungee jumping, among other things. Louise told us that there is a "Firefighters Run" every year where the fire fighters run to the top of the stairs to raise money for a good cause. One year the fire chief from New York City joined them and ran in honor of the fire fighters from New York who lost their lives in 911.

Sky Tower

Auckland - note the prominent Sky Tower

Louise told us that when Auckland was designed, they tried to re-create England. Unlike the history of Australia, no convicts were sent to New Zealand. England saw New Zealand as an opportunity to help their country. They envisioned it as one big farm and were going to export the food back to their country. This confirms what another tour guide had told us about the whole country of New Zealand being one big farm.

Our drive took us along the beaches, marinas, and harbor area. Like Sydney, Auckland has a harbor bridge, but on a much smaller scale than the one in Sydney. Apparently the building of the harbor bridge was a big deal and there was much anticipation the day it opened. Unfortunately on opening day, there was a huge traffic jam, as a vintage car driving across broke down. Louise told us that there are lots of vintage cars in Auckland. There apparently was a discussion as to whether to allow the vintage cars on the bridge on opening day. At the end of the day, they probably regretted their decision to allow them. 

Auckland's Harbor Bridge

We drove by a marina that had over 2500 yachts. According to Louise, one in five Aucklanders owns a boat. I guess if you live in a place with so much water, it's a good idea. Sailing and yacht building are big business in Auckland.

In most of the cities we had visited in New Zealand, we learned about how earthquakes were prominent. Louise said that Auckland doesn't have earthquakes, they have volcanoes instead. They will feel tremors from the earthquakes that take place in the other cities, but the quakes are never centered in Auckland. At one point we were told that they even feel earthquakes that happen in Japan.

One of Auckland's many volcanoes

We drove along newly developed areas in a part of town called Cracker Bay. The area was bustling with cafes, boutique shops, and restaurants. 

Auckland is in the process of building a subway. In the past, they didn't think it was possible to have a subway due to the geothermal activity and volcanoes. However, new technology has made it possible. The subway will have 4 stops, so will not be real extensive, but will help transport many people into the downtown area.

We drove along Tamaki Drive, which is a scenic drive along the water with nice views of Auckland's volcanoes located offshore. We also drove along Mission Bay, which is a popular city beach. 

We drove through an old suburb called Parnell, which is where the prime ministers live. It was a very affluent suburb. 

We stopped at a memorial that had a lot of beautiful gardens.

The volcanoes in the Auckland area provide a unique landscape and spectacular views. A lot of the volcanoes are located offshore, but we drove close to the top of one at the end of our Auckland tour. We had the opportunity to climb to the top, or to visit a local cafe and visitor's center which detailed the history of the volcanic activity of the area. The volcano name is Maungawhau. It is the highest point in Auckland and provides 360 degree panoramic views of the city and harbor. Some of our group climbed to the top, but since it was a rather strenuous climb and we didn't have a lot of time, we visited the visitor's center, instead. 

After our very informative and enjoyable tour of the city of Auckland, we were dropped off at the airport. Our day of travel went very well despite the long flights. Our flight from Auckland to Los Angeles was early, and the slightly over 11 hours of travel went by quickly. Our layover was not long, and we soon boarded the flight from LAX to Atlanta for a 3 1/2 hour flight. When we arrived in Atlanta, our group Ageless Adventures had a bus lined up to take us back to the community where Ricky lives. We said good bye to our new friends that we made. Below is a group picture that we took on one of the last days of the cruise.

Ageless Adventurers

We thoroughly enjoyed getting to know and spending time with the Aussies and Kiwis that we met on this trip. These people are some of the friendliest in the world. I am reminded of an old song: "Up, up with people. You meet 'em wherever you go! Up, up with people. They're the best kind of folks we know!" 

Thanks for reading the blog. I hope you enjoyed it and learned something new.