Auckland/ Water Everywhere

---

If you’re RVing in a camper van, renting a car and staying in hotels, or just poking around Auckland, you’ll find water every where. Surrounded by water, the ‘City of Sails’ has much to offer those who like boats, maritime history, or just plain sea life.

Near the Ferry Berth on Quay and Hobson Streets, the New Zealand Maritime Museum covers Kiwi maritime history from the Maori migration to modern day cup sailing. You can check out the boats, life-sized exhibits, or collection of models and artifacts on a guided tour or poke around on your own with an Audio Guide. If you’d like to get out on the water, the museum’s Ted Ashby sails Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. The SS Puke and Breeze sail most week ends.

The waterfront itself is a good place to spend an afternoon. Ferries come and go as well as other interesting boats. My first trip to New Zealand in 1985, I wandered the docks and visited with one of the crew of the damaged Greenpeace ship, Rainbow Warrior which was tied to the dock. The Rainbow Warrior had been ripped by two bombs killing one crew member, Fernando Pereira. The French government had ordered the bombing. The Rainbow Warrior crew have since scattered around the world. Today, the Rainbow Warrior is a living reef off the New Zealand coast.

Probably the only place you’ll find snow and ice in Auckland is Kelly Tarlton’s Under Water World. South of Central Auckland on Tamaki Drive, you can time travel back to visit a life-size replica hut of Captain Robert Falcon Scott, the South Pole explorer. Then, visit a penguin colony in an antarctic snow cat. In Underwater World, you can view the sea life while traveling through a clear tunnel on a moving walk way. If you want a closer view of the sharks, you can get nose to nose with one. A professional dive instructor will help you meet the sharks. You’ll get a lot wetter than you would on a ride through the tunnel, so bring a towel.

Maybe you didn’t come to New Zealand to rub noses with a fish, but you’ll love this “City of Sails” surrounded by water.

Lyn

RV in NZ: How to Spend Your Winters South in New Zealand

Traveling New Zealand, my other blog, is about another New Zealand town with water everywhere- Whangarei
www.rvinnz.com

---

Photos

New Zealand RVs
New Zealand RVs Come in All Sizes & Shapes. These RVs are Lined up for a Rally-- How Kiwi RVers socialize.