The first part of the tour was the Auckland highlights. This included the suburbs which had been built when the city was first built (around 1840). There were several very nice Victorian houses in the area. Unfortunately, although the tour was interesting, and we learned lots of great Auckland facts, the weather was drizzly. My pictures look like I was trapped in mist clouds - so a lot of my story can't be shown in photos. We also didn't do too many stops and photos snapped out the window look like I was on a fun park ride - slightly askew. We drove past the university here, and some lovely museums. We did get out and look at the War Memorial building which is built on a hill. Very dramatic setting which overlooks the city. You'll have to believe me that the views on a less misty day would have been dramatic.
The War Memorial Building
We then took the Harbor Bridge which connects east Auckland (where we are) to west Auckland. It began as a four land bridge and was expanded to eight. It cuts lots of commuting time between the two sections of the city, but is very congested, sometimes to the point of impassible. Obviously this creates a love/hate relationship between the locals and their need to travel around. Except for buses there really isn't any other way around Auckland.
Our first stop was at a town called Takapuna. From a local cafe we could see a beach (rather high tide), and in the not too far distance a volcano named Rangitoto Island. In the mist, the top of Rangitoto had disappeared - I did get photos of it later.
The beach at high tide at Takapuna. Note the Pohutukawa trees (New Zealand Christmas trees) along the shore. A lot of the local beaches are lined with these trees.
Rangitoto Island is behind me in the mist.
We then drove on to a little city called Devonport. It's another older city with lots of Victorian houses and very expensive properties. Lovely setting. On another extinct volcano was located an old fort Mt. Victoria with a hidden gun which could have been used in the 1st and 2nd World Wars. Lovely views from there since the drizzle was beginning to lift.
When the mist cleared, this is the view of the city from the top of Mt. Victoria
Devonport from the top of Mt Victoria
Rangitoto island without mist
A Tui bird. These birds have two voice boxes and, given enough energy and time, can be taught to speak.
Back across the Harbor Bridge we circled around and came to the New Zealand Yacht club. This is a famous, exclusive marina for mooring boats in the Auckland area. Auckland, the City of Sails, has a lot of marinas and places to moor boats.
City seen through the masts at the Yacht marina
The Harbor Bridge. The arched section was the original 4 lanes.
Some more Pohutukawa bushes behind us
The ferry building from the ferry.
We went back to the hotel after the tour, and after a lovely local pie lunch, decided to take a ferry back to Devonport to walk around the town. The ferry ride was only 15 minutes. We originally thought we might have dinner there, but we had come too early to wait around. We wandered through the shops, however, finding some good items. Then took the ferry ride back to town.
Charlie and me on the ferry
You can try out an America's Cup racing boat to ride around in - the above photo
A photo of Devonport
Queen's Road - the main shopping street of Devonport
The beach at Devonport
I'm not sure what type of bird this is - but we've seen it on the beaches. I love its beak
Auckland's train station. This photo was taken from our favorite pie/coffee shop. Not sure about the flaming objet d'arte
The view from our hotel window.
We went further into the water front area for dinner, checking the menus at a lot of places. We finally settled on a place called Mecca. On our tour we asked what the local fish were. The one that was first on the list was "snapper". Not red or blue snapper - just snapper. We tried it tonight and can say that it was delicious!
Back to the hotel,
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