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Published: November 24th 2008
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The Haka
It obviously worked for the Rugby League World Cup on Saturday! Auckland, City of Sails Thursday 20th November 2008
This is our third night in Auckland and our verdict is that it’s a great city. Leaving Fiji with its bure huts, coral beaches and simple lifestyle and then just three hours later arriving in such a vibrant modern city, has been quite a surreal experience. We arrived at lunchtime on Tuesday and spent over two hours between landing and getting outside of the airport, mostly standing in long queues, to clear the rigid customs and security inspections; we even had our boots disinfected! Although tedious, the whole process was done in a very courteous manner. Kiwis are nice polite people, so we smiled in a compliant way and finally escaped and got the shuttle bus in to the city. We found wonderful accommodation here; a lovely studio apartment in the University district, with stunning views of the harbour, Sky City tower and the downtown area; we decided to have a bit of luxury before a month on campsites.
Auckland is easy to walk around despite being very hilly (the old legs are aching) so we’ve seen a lot of the city in two days. Yesterday we got the ferry over to
Auckland Museum
Museum on the Domain, photo takn from our balcony the North shore, to Devonport and Cheltenham Beach; lots of Victorian architecture, boutiques and stately charm. Last night we spoiled ourselves by going to the theatre. It is so long since we’ve been to the theatre so it was a really special treat. We saw “Phantom of the Opera” and it was absolutely magical, with stunning staging and first class performances. I felt OK sitting down in the circle, but in the loo queue in the interval I felt a little intimidated because the majority of the women were in their glitz and glamour togs, even Japanese in their best kimonos and I had jeans and hiking boots on. It is of course, lovely to dress up for the theatre but being unable to I wished I’d made a little placard to hang around my neck saying “Sorry but I’m backpacking”. Anyway, it didn’t detract from the immense pleasure of seeing such a wonderful show. We both loved it.
Today, we walked up The Domain, a huge park with sweeping city views and undulating acres of grass. It reminded me of Greenwich. In The Domain we ambled around the Winter Garden, visited the Cenotaph and best of all, the Auckland
Downtown Auckland
Photo from the Devonport ferry Museum. What a great introduction to New Zealand. We would recommend the museum to anyone visiting New Zealand. We saw an astonishing collection of Polynesian and Maori exhibits and also managed to catch one of the thrice daily cultural performances, dance and song by young Maori performers, including a Haka. The museum also houses impressive natural history galleries as well as the New Zealand war museum. After several hours we walked down to Parnell Village, an historic part of Victorian Auckland, which leads back down to the harbour.
We felt really cold when we arrived, because it is quite a long time since we’ve spent the day in only 18 degrees of heat, but we seem to have adapted quickly; or it could just be that one feels the cold less whilst trudging up and down so many hills (all created by numerous past volcanic eruptions). The effort is well worth it, however, because Auckland is so delightful to walk around. It is clean, green and a pleasing mix of a well-preserved old Auckland and a stylish cosmopolitan new Auckland. Tomorrow we are collecting the campervan from the airport and heading north to Northland and the Bay of Islands. The
Devonport, North Shore
Coming in to Devonport by ferry New Zealand leg of our trip has started off in grand style and now we are eagerly waiting for what else is in store. First impressions imply that the following month is going to be fantastic!
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