Auckland New Zealand

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For the beginning summer Auckland is cold. Alan and I did not pack warm enough. So I am now the proud owner of a bright lime green "jumper", aka sweatshirt. For our excursion in Auckland we again went on a ships tour with about 30 of our shipmates. I have been on many excursions, but I cannot remember such a fun group. There was even a fellow with a little stuffed bunny that he carries around like my gnome. I suggested the bunny and the gnome have a ship board romance. Maybe... We were transported on coaches to the Gannet Colony . This is where thousands of gannets got to feed and perch. Lovely cliffs on black sand beaches. I always heard of the true black sand beaches, but this is the first time I saw it. It makes the beaches look like freshly paved asphalt. Very striking. After about an hour of hiking around the colony we were back on the coaches and went to the Soljans Winery. We had a lovely lunch and wine of course. But no time for shopping. That is too bad, because I saw some fun gifts I wanted to buy for Christmas gifts. Oh well. We reboarded the motor coach and drove into the rainforest. Where we boarded the Rainforest Express. I have been on different types of trains before, but this is the tiniest train ever. It was very much like a kiddie train you ride at Disney. Only two people per car and if you are large, you were squished. The reason the train is so small is because it was used to bring the building supplies to build a dam. The tunnels we traveled through were carved out 100 years ago with pick axes and shovels. We saw the dam, but compared to Hoover Dam, I wasn't so impressed. The tunnels also had a fun surprise of glow worms. And had I not known I would had thought it was fake. It looked very much lights on the ceiling of a limousine. They illuminated a little neon green dot of light. Fascinating! For our second day in Auckland we just had of a bit of a walkabout. Auckland is a very clean city. The only litter in the streets were blowing leaves. We went over to the Sky Tower, which is a hotel, casino, shop and adventure attraction. This is where the brave can jump of, or people without a fear of heights can walk around outside attached with tethers. I enjoyed the casino and walked out with a few extra dollars in my pocket. I found my beloved Tiffany & Co. But it was a small boutique shop along with other couture shops. So no purchases were made. Darn it. As we sail away from New Zealand I wish we had warmer weather so we could have enjoyed more.

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