Auckland New Zealand

What a super city! We have spent the day walking and exploring and on the way back to the ship we have found a bar called Andrew Andrew which has a happy hour and free WiFi - hence the early post.Will complete when back on ship.

This is New Zealand’s largest city with 1 million population, and it was the capital from 1840 to 1865.  It comprises a number of volcanic cones and was settled by the Maori tribes from 1350.  You will be pleased to know that after years of Land Wars following the take-over by British settlers  everyone now lives in harmony and since 1985 the Maoris  have even been able to “buy land and invest in education”.  Very generous to allow them to buy their own land back!

It is certainly a beautiful city – we started the day with a short ferry ride to Devonport which is a small Victorian seaside town  – I immediately wanted to buy one of the superb houses overlooking the sea and move there – but would have need a million pounds to do so – a local told me that there are far more beautiful spots which is no doubt an indication of how lovely New Zealand is.

We continued by following a walking route around the city.  It has some lovely old buildings dating to around 1900 and some impressive art nouveau and art deco.  Some of the older parts look just like  London suburbs but better kept.  There is  beautiful Albert Park in the centre with trees which pre-date the city and some large butterflies.  We were pleased to see sparrows, blackbirds and goldfinches but wondered whether they had been brought by early settlers or developed independently on two sides of the world?  We went up in the Sky Tower (1075 ft) and had fun watching the people who had paid over 100 pounds to jump off – they are conveniently dangled outside the viewing area before being lowered at an alarming rate to a small platform at ground level.

Dangling Man from Sky Tower

 A reminder that our favourite ever films - Lord of the Rings - were made in New Zealand - there was an exhibition in the Tower - wish we had time to visit all of the locations!

We were a bit disappointed at the lack of traditional pubs in the city but there was no shortage of cafes which served alcohol and we had lunch in one made out of the foyer of an old theatre.  We finished the day in the bar by the waterfront as mentioned

We are now at sea for a day and will arrive in Wellington on 22^nd.