Beautiful City of Sails – Auckland

We made it to New Zealand about 1am in the morning on Friday morning.  A completely uneventful trip from start (home in the US) to finish (through LA to Brisbane to Auckland).  K & I were a quite tired, but none the worse for wear.

K did a great job locating a hotel for us to stay in (as always).  We are staying in the CityLife Auckland.  We sit right under the Sky Tower in NZ (picture from our room up to the Skytower yesterday).  We awoke to the sound of little kids.  Our room on the 12^th floor sits just above the Lollipop daycare.

 

We slept in a bit and got a relatively late start.  We awoke to an absolutely gorgeous day in Auckland.  About 82 degrees (F) and sunny.  Enjoyed an cappuccino (K) and “flat white” for me (a uniquely Kiwi morning drink that is half way between a latte and cappuccino – a little more creamy) along with two enormous and delicious blueberry muffins that our server said came right out of the oven.  When I tore it apart, steam rose from the table so I think she was right.  I will try not to bore or upset people with pictures of food from this post.

After breakfast, it was on to the central city sites – and those we covered extensively on our first day.  For those going on a trip to New Zealand, I recommend the Lonely Planet guide book.  In the guide, they provide a great little walking tour guide which we used to explore on our first day.  [Side note:  also get Fodor's New Zealand guide book.  Fodor's provides better maps and descriptions of attractions, hotels, restaurants.]

We started at St. Kevin’s Arcade – a little bohemian-like shopping/eating area at the intersection of Karangahape Road and Queen Street (the main street in Auckland) and worked our way down Queen Street to the water front.  After exploring a few of St. Kevin’s shops (including seeing a few tattoo shops), we went through Aotea Square.  Aotea is at the heart of Auckland and the best way to describe it is it is kind of like Union Square in San Francisco.  Auckland Town Hall - another city highlight - borders the square (see square and town hall below).

 

Next, it was on to the Auckland Art Gallery.  A wonderful museum – completely free to all.  It didn't try to be a huge museum of everything in the world like you would see in Europe.  Instead, they housed (almost exclusively) works of art from New Zealanders (including Maori natives) or those that immigrated to New Zealand.  Extremely well done gallery without having too much or being overwhelming.  K is our art critic and it received her “K approved” seal.

From there a café stop and then through Albert Park.  This little park sits atop a small hill overlooking the center city.  It used to be the home of a British garrison/fort protecting the Europeans from warring Maori peoples.  It then became a center of commerce area and still holds a number of old merchant houses (picture of one below) on its edge.

A cute little park with lots of flowers (nice to see for those of us that are enduring the winter from hell).  Check out the cute little clock at the entrance to the park.  I just thought it was the cutest clock I have ever seen.

Albert Park borders Auckland University.  On the campus also sits the Old Government House - both pictured here.

 

Another cafe stop (wine and beer at a café under a hotel K almost had us stay at - Hotel Debrett- very K approved, which means pricey, if any one is coming here) and then from there, we headed down to the waterfront, the Viaduct Harbor and the Wynyard Quarter.  Pictured below is the Old Ferry Building (still active today in providing ferry service to surrounding islands and towns).

Auckland has more sail boats per capita than any other city in the world.  From what I saw, I can't argue with the math.  Boats of all types and sizes in this city.  Check out my favorite – a boat with its own helicopter!  When you have enough money to afford one of these ships and a helicopter to go with it,  think we can call you rich – in any language and in any part of the world.

After a break for some wine/beer and kumara (NZ sweet potato fries), we headed up the Skytower.  Here it is pictured from down on the waterfront and underneath…

And here are a just a few of the pictures from the tower itself.  Quite a stunning set of views.  The bridge in the picture in the middle is Auckland Bridge (about equal in size and importance to the NZ people as the Sydney Bridge in Australia).

 

 

K was not excited to walk over the plate glass window floors – freaked her out despite the signs.  For those looking to keep K out of their house, I found the way.  Install glass floors!

 

Finished up with dinner at Portofinos on the harbor.Tons more to talk about and show, but we are getting ready for day 2.  Stay tuned.