Awesome Auckland

Sadly disembarked the ship after a wonderful cruise to spend our last two days in Auckland, New Zealand’s biggest city where a third of the country’s population reside. Campbell’s Über app is coming in handy - very quick to arrive and half the price of the usual taxis. Like elsewhere in NZ (and indeed Australia), everyone has been very friendly and helpful - even the local bus drivers - it’s just like being back on the No. 57 😋.

We were booked into the pleasant Quality Hotel in the residential suburb of Parnell. It is a lovely area, with a rose garden nearby and lovely Victorian villas. First stop was a trip up the Sky Tower - the tallest building in Southern Hemisphere. Great views over the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean. This is Pride week with lots of events, so we attended a play called Provocation, based on true stories of murderers who had their sentence reduced because their victim was gay. Great acting and thought provoking.

Next day we took a hop-on hop-off bus tour which which gave us a good overview of the city. Visited the lovely Auckland Zoo which was beautifully laid out, and seems to do a lot of work with endangered species. Our favourites were the cheeky meerkats. We then had a short ferry trip to the seaside resort of Devonport - a welcome relief from the busy city. At night we attended another Pride event - a stand-up comedy night with 8 top NZ comedians - hilarious!

Today, on our last morning in Auckland, we arranged to meet up with my cousin David and his partner Brigitte, who had just flown over for Valentines from Australia. We enjoyed a long leisurely breakfast in their hotel and had a great catch up. Soon it was time to leave for the airport and face a long journey home 😕.Read more