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Published: December 9th 2007
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The Sky Tower and Auckland Skyline
This photo was taken from Mt Victoria top - canon guns were based here and used in WW2 to defend the waterway around the harbour between Auckland and the outer lying islands... DATE VISITED: 7,8,9 DECEMBER 07 We are here at last! The plane ride was a bumpy and tedious 16 hr stretch - I think I could only do it again if I had a window sear with extra leg room - but what more can you do when you attempt to book -online- the night before and the fffff'in website is down! Lets move on quick...
Auckland otherwise known as the 'City of Sails' and I can see why. Landing at the airport - the strip only yards from the sea, enabled us to benefit from a full panoramic view of this amazing harbour city.
Auckland reminds me of Torquay! for its sub-tropical random palm trees, Bournemouth - for the upmarket air and victorian aspects, Brighton - for the peers and entertainments (without the dross), somewhere in Cornwall - for the beaches and sea air, and even a little space left for a mini-Manhatten - the few skyrisers that there are around here.
An odd but surprising mix. Our hostel (Bamber house) http://oaklands.co.nz/bamberhm.html is a lovely base to explore this city - positioned under Mt Eden Volcano which we climbed up yesterday. Wow what a view - see
Devonport
Victorian Clock amongst other traditional seaside features... the pics although this really doesnt do it justice! We saw a herd of cows up here just chilling! haha
In this leafy suburb, it provides ample opportunity to soak up local neighbourhood life, consisting of pretty cats crossing quiet streets, locals smiling in their happy ways as they walk by and the sounds of the cuty ' bird' ( I have yet to identify) but wakes you up from the sleep at sunrise with its two-note "cuckoo". Close by are Ponsonby - a bar strip we explored yesterday though nothing to write home about, and some local cafe/bistro areas in Mt Eden where I sampled the nicest noodle dish ever! (Roasted butternut squash, pine nuts, lime, garlic, olive oil, basil , rocket, and parmesan!). The prices are near to the UK - BUT the value and quality is probably higher. You can tell people like their food here - this place is rammed with outdoor trendy cafe bars and bistros including a very noticeable Asian population and their eateries (around 14% are Chinese here but thats better than Chavs back home).! At night the bars fill up with young travellers and locals consuming wine and lager on
the street-side. We have only been able to afford a half pint if that a day ;o
Aucklands' geography certainly surpises you - surrounded by umpteen volcanic cones - 3 of which we discovered yesterday and which provide perfect scenic view points and picnic spots - these are used as parks for locals to chill-with-a-view - we certainly didnt want to move away from the area thats for sure! with these historical features and the lovely background scenes of the harbour, boats, and hilly surround, it makes for a good postcard shot.
On our round walk around Auckland's sites (the parks, the Volcanic cones, beaches, the trendy boutiques and cafe areas) we saw the harbour - sprawled over quite a large area and Davenport - a totally English Victorian seaside type place a short ferry hop away. Here we smelt seaweed, fish and chips, heard traditional whitby style sea gulls and admired the various Englishy Victorian bits! (red telephone boxes, zebra crossings and Bournemouth style hotel fronts!) - it was much smaller and less crowded than in Britain though!
I like Auckland - I think Ben does too - especially the lushness of it all - houses are not in blocks or estates here but just nestled amongst trees - they carry on building and expanding this city but it seems they really do think about how and where they put their new homes... it just doesnt feel like a city. The business district has some traffic - but even this has sparrows and robins flying past between grassy areas, and all the trendy chill out cafe's sort of slows down the pace here.
2 days is about right to see the best - providing you dont want to sky jump off the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere (Sky Tower). We walked past there yesterday and Ben shouted " sall look!" - shortly after I was alarmed by several shreakish screams - I turn around to find this young female screaming and free falling off the Sky Tower on a cable - and not slowing down until the last 5 metres. How relaxing...Apparantly its a 15 second free fall at 75 k's per hour - I am sure we will see plenty more of these thrill seeking opportunities.
I just wish I had the guts to do it.
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Nesh
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Thanks for the updates Sal! :)