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Published: March 11th 2014
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This morning we arrived in Auckland New Zealand. It is no longer the capitol of the country, but it is certainly the largest city. We learned that and a lot of other stuff during our tour, but I am getting ahead of myself.
We started with a 7:00 wake-up call. After getting dressed, we went to the Buffet for breakfast and then reported to the Princess Theater for our tour to begin at 8:25. There were 45 of us on a 2-hour city tour, followed by a cruise of the harbor in a scow, and then an escorted tour of the Maritime Museum.
Before disembarking from the ship yesterday, we had to be sniff-tested by a cute little dog, which was searching for contraband (primarily food products). New Zealand is very careful about prohibiting any fruits, grains, meats, processed foods, etc. into their country. Today we were warned that the same could happen, but this time it didn’t. We boarded the bus uneventfully and were driven around the city to see the main sights.
New Zealand has a population of about 4 million people, and about 1.8 million of them live in
Janet & David
on Harbor Cruise the Auckland area. So much of the city resembled many other big cities. But it seemed very clean and peaceful, and it certainly was comfortable weather (it ranged from 17 to 23 degrees C = 63 to 73 degrees F) with very little wind and mostly clear skies. We were told that one person out of every 10 owned a boat of some time. There are also 10 times as many sheep in New Zealand as there are people. The minimum wage here is $13 per hour with the average wage being a bit more than $20. However it is very expensive to live in Auckland, with a rent for a small house being about $500 a week and larger houses could be double that rate – not counting utilities, etc. Buying a small house could cost around $500K and large houses in nice neighborhoods cost $1.5M or higher. A reasonable estimate of food costs is about $300 per week for a family of four. So that higher minimum wage doesn’t stretch too far in Auckland.
We had a photo-stop at the Michael Joseph Savage Memorial. The original inhabitants of New Zealand were called the Maori, who
were Polynesian by descent. In the 1860s-1880s, Prime Minister Michael Savage played a key role in integrating Maori into the rules of government of NZ. Since then there have been periodic disagreements, but mostly resolved in a peaceful manner. This memorial is on top of a hill, with a good view of the surrounding area. Speaking of hills, the Auckland area is on (or near) 43 extinct volcanos. So virtually every high point of land is an old volcano. While re drove around, many areas reminded us on the hills streets of San Francisco.
Following our bus ride, we went on about an hour’s cruise in a twin-masted harbor boat. There is virtually no wind, so the used the motor to get us around, although they did raise one sail for a while so we could get an idea what it would be like. We cruise by the Westhaven Marina, where many of the racing yachts are kept. We saw the Steinlager 2, which won a recent around-the-world cruise contest. We also sailed past the Auckland Harbor Bridge, or own cruise ship, and we docked new the 100-year old Harbor Ferry Building. There were half a dozen
Auckland Skyline
seen from harbor boat crew who were more than willing to point out sights of interest or to any questions we had.
After the harbor cruise, we were given an escorted tour of the New Zealand Maritime Museum. We saw everything from replicas of original seagoing Maori dugout canoes with outriggers, to recreations of what immigrant passengers would have had to put up with to relocate from England to New Zealand, to the latest technology in racing yachts. The guide was very well informed and shared lots of information with us. All told, it was a very interesting tour.
We were only a short distance from our cruise ship, so we walked back about 1:00 for a lunch on the Lido Deck. Then we adjourned to our cabin to review our photos and get a little nap . However, at 4:30 there was a special show in the Princess theater which we wanted to attend. This was a demonstration of tribal Maori dancing, and it was really interesting. Even many of the Australian people (who had an idea what to expect) said it was good – for us it was all new and fascinating.
After
the show we returned to our cabin to prepare for dinner. There were only 4 of us at the dinner table tonight - us, Dallas and Val. We gave have the head waiter a note asking to be relocated to a smaller table on our next cruise. Janet is philosophical about the people not coming to dinner with us, but it upsets David and we are going to try to minimize those issues during the next trip.
For the meal, we both had the Prosciutto and Melon appetizer and we each had Caesar Salads. It was “Italian Night” and there was a Penne Pasta special, which Janet had. David had the Veal Scaloppini with a side of the pasta. For dessert, Janet had Tiramisu and David had Cassata ice cream.
The evening show was a combination comedy/magic act, by someone named Adam Dean. He was actually quite funny although he was no David Copperfield. He got several audience members on the stage, and they each turned out to be wild and crazy types. Anyway, we enjoyed his act. They had the shows early because at 10:00 there is supposed to be a special Deck
Party on the Lido Deck. Tonight is the shortest cruising distance between ports, so the ship will be going more slowly and it will be the least windy up on deck. However we have an early day tomorrow so we are not going to attend and will just get this sent. Seven photos today - hope you enjoy them.
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