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Published: March 2nd 2009
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With Heaven left behind, our final few days in NZ are in Auckland - the largest city on the North Island - home to approximately 1 million people (still small compared to our own UK cities!). The city covers a wide area - the residential areas tend to extend north and south (along the coast) - whilst heading west the airport is approximately 20km inland of the city centre.
We wanted to make the most of our last few days and had some things in mind that we wanted to see and do.....
WHALE & DOLPHIN BOAT TRIP
We had run out of time when on the South Island to get to Kaikoura - which is world famous for its whale watching trips. So we thought we would take the opportunity to take a trip from Auckland harbour.
Well worth doing - we travelled with Explore NZ on a 4.5 hour trip (leaving the harbour at 8.30am) - and were really impressed. Explore NZ work closely with the Department for Conservation - and the money you pay for the trip ($150NZ) goes towards research and supporting a number of PhD students (studying marine science / biology & conservation/ecology).
I was certainly left with an impression that the work they do is very much going towards supporting the marine environment rather than "making a buck".
We went on a 20m catamaran style boat - where we were free to move around the whole boat both inside and outside. The trip guarantees you dolphin sightings (or you receive repeat trips until you do see them) - and sure enough we saw a pod of around 40 common dolphins about an hour after we left the harbour. The whole trip was really fascinating - we saw gannet's diving in for fish - they are apparently one of the fastest birds when in "dive mode" - and I can well believe it! The hardly make a ripple but there is a deep thud as they enter the water - it is certainly a sight and sound I will never forget. We saw numerous Little Blue Penguins (great to see them in a natural habitat), various see birds, jellyfish and even a young hammer-head shark.
The whole trip was very calm (admittedly we had a fantastic day weather-wise with hardly a breath of wind) - but the Auckland stretch of the coast
is very protected from the South Pacific by a number of islands (the most recent is a volcano that erupted just 600 years ago - and the largest is Great Barrier Island). We travelled down along the coast to the Coromandel Penninsula, and back around the islands. Unfortunately we didnt see any whales - but the dolphin's and other wildlife were fascinating - and I highly recommend the trip!
Other Stuff...
We took a trip across to Devonport on the ferry ($10 return trip). Devonport had been recommended to us - and we had the impression that it was a busy art and craft hub for the city and surrounding area. We spent time looking around the various shops (and a couple of artist's galleries) - but after a cuppa we decided to head back to the city. It was interesting and a nice way to spend a morning - but wouldn't come high on my list of "things to do" in Auckland.
On our last full day we took a trip to Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World and Antarctic Centre. The alarm bells were ringing (after our disappointing experience at the Christchurch Antarctic Centre) - but as Kelly
Tarlton was the man responsible for inventing the underwater walkway that we now see so often in "sea-world" type venue's we were keen to go and see for ourselves. Perhaps its a case of "seen one underwater tunnel, seen them all" - but we had walked around, taken the penguin cart (a short 8 minute trip that takes you past the penguin colony they have replicated) and managed to be back outside waiting for the bus in less than an hour...
The city centre where the shops and theatres are is quite compact - easy to walk around and designed on a grid system so difficult to get lost. If you are keen on shopping - and have left getting your souvenirs til the last minute - it will have everything you need. There are numerous eating venues (particularly around the harbour) - and again, we found the food of good quality and reasonable priced (particularly recommend "Waterfront" - which is right next door to the Maritime Museum on the harbour).
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