November 15, Auckland NZ

November 15, Auckland NZ

Auckland, the largest city in NZ, serves as the point of entry or departure for most international visitors. Know as the City of Sails, it was capital until 1865 when Wellington was chosen because of its more central geographic location. The city is built on a cluster of extinct volcanoes, and its fertile landscape blends seamlessly with the modern metropolitan skyline. The nickname is most appropriate as there are over 70,000 sailing craft and private powerboats in the region, or an average of one boat for every four households!

We were on our own today, and I had purchased hop-on hop-off tickets in advance. As the bus didn’t start until 9am, we waited until around 8:30 before leaving the ship. After walking through the NZ security we went down the pier and found the bus. Our first stop was the Parnell Rose Gardens. What a beautiful garden. With well over a hundred different rose bushes all in bloom it was an explosion of color. There were varieties of roses that we had never seen before, and naturally quite a few pictures were taken.

Our next stop was at Eden Garden, which has been described as Auckland’s best kept garden secret. In 1964 some volunteers began their efforts to transform an abandoned quarry burrowed into the rock of the extinct volcano. Today, this garden features one of the largest collections of camellias in the Southern Hemisphere.

Back on the bus and we were off to the Auckland Zoo. A small but beautiful zoo, it was well kept up, nicely laid out, and we were able to finally see a live kiwi bird! The way it’s laid out we were able to get quite close to most of the birds and animals and came away with some great photos.

Leaving the zoo, we stopped off at the historic Victoria Park Market. It’s advertised as having over 65 shops to browse around that include arts and crafts, clothing, curios, etc., however we were quite disappointed there. I doubt there were that many shops. And it was not the cleanest area as well.

Walking around the corner we saw a hotel and pub so we stopped in and had a beer and snack as we were getting a bit hungry. After leaving we saw a nice wine store and stopped in and purchased four bottles of NZ wine, and then it was back to the ship, the spa to relax, and to bed.

Tomorrow we will be in Bay of Islands NZ where once again we will be on our own.