We arrived in Auckland on Sunday 7th February after a 9 hour flight from Brunei. We hired a car at the airport and drove straight to our hotel on the harbour in Auckland. I had selected it from the list of Auckland hotels available on the internet but what a find. It was the Hilton on Princes Wharf and our balcony looked straight out on the harbour and all the goings on of the numerous ferries, plying their way back and forth to the North Shore and the various islands in Auckland Harbour. Fabulous! The yellow building in the photo below is the Ferry headquarters.
The weather was warm - in the high 20's if I remember correctly and we set off to explore Auckland's city centre. Our first stop was the Sky Tower - to get the view - and what a view it was.
Our hotel is in the picture below -on the quay on the right hand side of the photo there are 2 white blocks - our hotel is just beyond the right hand one. You can see the liner lying just below our window.
In the picture below this is down and not out - Howard took this - not me! But there is also the mad folk that had decided to pay to walk around the outside at the top! Plus we were kept entertained by the folks who had paid to jump off the building as well (in a safety harness of course)
This was the only bit of descent I could cope with...! Down in the lift.
A walk around the city showed us some older bits as well - here's ANOTHER St Andrew's Church and a Presbyterian one this time!
A walk around the city showed us some older bits as well - here's ANOTHER St Andrew's Church and a Presbyterian one this time!
Auckland is a beautiful city and we hardly even scratched the surface of what there is to do here. We ate very nicely at the harbour front that night and felt very well rested for the next day's adventure - a drive north to Russell and the Bay of Islands
This is the small car ferry which takes you and your car over, not to an island but to the peninsula opposite - and Russell.
And this is our first experience of a Holiday Campsite and a motel unit - not bad at all - especially the view! (As it turned out this was the nicest we stayed in)
The next day saw us out on the water in the Bay of Islands doing The Cream Run - a day trip on a tourist boat but which actually does deliver the papers and mail (and possibly cream?) to all the inhabited islands. This was the ship, docked at one of the bays we stopped at for a swim.
However the most impressive part of the day was our mad Dutch skipper Billy taking the boat through The Hole in The Rock at one of the outermost islands. There was quite a swell running and I didn't think he was going to do this and was just winding us all up. However he did, successfully I might add. Later we discovered this huge boat has a draft of only 80 cms and the key to his success he told me is that it is a jet boat - so no propellors to worry about and very easily manouvered. We were impressed - the photos and video don't really show just how impressive it was but you get the idea.
There was also a fair bit of mucking around in the water - swimming with dolphins (if you paid extra). We thought we had the better view from the boat! And also a bit of keel hauling of the visitors....by their own choice!
After the boat trip we walked to Waitangi to see the place where the treaty between the Maori and HM Government was signed in 1840. Fish and chips on the way home and that was that for the Bay of Islands
Next morning (birthday morning!) up and off to the West Coast of North Island to check out the Kauri forests and the Lord and Father of the Forest - 2 huge trees which may be 2000 years old. This is the Father - girth 16.4 metres! The tree was truely ethereal.
And finally to Rotorua after a very long drive, and at last a celebration of my birthday - champagne and cake waiting for me in the hotel room. Very nice!
The following day we spent exploring the Maori and geothermal side of Rotorua. To Te Paiu, when the Maoris have a cultrual centre, and 2 colleges passing on the tradional arts to the young - one for carving and one for weaving. The lads (only the lads are allowed to carve) are carving the 10 metre high entrance door for the New Zealand entry for World Expo 2010 in Beijing - they will carve most of it in place but here is the basic piece being worked on.
And then a "welcome" by the chief of the village to join them in a cultural show. Very, very impressive.
We also went to the geothermal area and the blow hole Puhutu goes off every 20 minutes or so. The mud and the heat was very impressive. We also went to a local park and found some mud holes for everyone to see, just lightly fenced off.
In the evening we went to a hangi - tradional Maori food again with more entertainment. Howard was the chief of our waka ( coach ) and thus the representative to be challenged / welcomed by the village elders. Again very impressive, and intimidating, as it is meant to be. The dropping of a leaf is symbolic of your acceptance and safe passage into the village.
And finally our last day in North Island was a drive to Wellington to stay overnight and catch an early morning ferry on Saturday 13th February. Wellington lived up to its name of being rather windy (Windy Welly) and indeed a bit wet. We weren't impressed - the ONLY thing we weren't impressed with so far. Although we did have a small earthquake ( 5.0 on the Richter scale ) at 02:41 in the morning.
A 8.30am departure for the 3 1/2 hour crossing to Picton and that was the end of our first week.
The other Interisland ferry going the other way.
