crazyscot

Auckland.

We slept well.. while the motel may sit on a thoroughfare and look a bit dilapidated from the outside, it's well decorated and appointed within, and the bed is good. A positive review is starting to write itself in our minds.


Having gone to bed before sunset out of necessity we found ourselves awake before dawn, so went for a walk to try and catch the sunrise. We were not successful; it was overcast, even trying to shroud the top of the Sky Tower. That said we did see something of the early morning life in this central Auckland suburb of St Mary's Bay - the predictable mix of dog walkers, early-morning bakeries and people getting on with their business, in what looks like quite a good suburb: the cars are smart and clean, the properties are generally well kept, one house even seeming to have left laundry out to dry on the verandah overnight. The people are very friendly, too.

Breakfast TV this morning is providing reports from Queensland waking up to count the cost of Cyclone Yasi with some very scary footage and radar traces.

When they say that Auckland is built (sprawled?) on a number of volcanoes, they're not kidding. There are dozens of them, and the city positively undulates because of it. Remarkably three-dimensional, much more so than (say) Edinburgh with its wide-area hills that you don't tend to notice so much.

Today's activities have not yet been planned but that's probably next ...

Oh, and they're right: the good Aus/NZ standard suncream does make you look like a zombie. Mind you, that's how we've been feeling so far, so nothing much new there ;-)

Auckland, Devonport, Sky Tower

We set off for town this morning minded to take one of the explorer/sightseeing bus trips, but instead ended up persuaded by a different fish: a package comprising a return ferry ticket to the North Shore with a local (minibus) tour when we got there - with splendid views across the Hauraki back to the CBD. The inner harbour ferry is fast and efficient, taking a shade over ten minutes to cross, but somehow I feel much more satisfied - we've seen and done a bit more of greater Auckland than we would have!

Devonport has a very distinct history, being the home of a Naval post - in amidst the practically incessant chatter of the commentary there were some nuggets. Since the Harbour Bridge opened in 1959 it is "only" 25 or 30km by road from downtown, but given what motorway traffic is like it's easy to see that the ferry remains attractive for linking the North Shore peninsula with anywhere reachable from the Britomart transport exchange (err, so that's limited, given how widely the place sprawls). Apropos of nothing much else, we saw a strange tree there.

After the tour we went to the viewing decks on the Sky Tower - the tallest building south of the equator at over 1000'. Many photos were taken. The tower also offers a base jump and an outside walk; I had been considering doing the skywalk, but you're not allowed cameras or other loose articles, and I don't seem to have contracted the Kiwi thrill-seeking bug (yet???) so I decided not to. There's always a next time...

C just went to bed and I shall soon... Can't help wondering whether we've overdone it a bit today, but we didn't really think that we were pushing it at the time. Some recalibration may be required. Tomorrow we pick up the hire car, and may well do that bus tour by way of taking it easy. It's been pretty humid today and looks the same tomorrow though - hope it's air-conditioned...