Auckland, New Zealand (Tamaki Makaurau)

Friday, February 10, 2023

What a beautiful city! Auckland is a large city, wrapping around an isthmus. Tall sparkling glass buildings and dramatic white structures are blended with stately historic ones. It might be the cleanest city I have ever seen.

Our Island Princess and the Coral Princess were both docked right in the heart of the Auckland. It was less than two blocks to the shopping district on Queen Street, and a walk of only a few blocks to the Sky Tower. The Auckland Maritime Museum was right outside where we docked.

Our side of the ship was docked directly next to a Hilton hotel that looked exactly like another ship. Sara and Madison were waiting for us when we got up around 6:15 A.M. They were having breakfast in Hilton restaurant right by the bow of the ship. Cliff got dressed and went out to the bow to take photos, looked down, and there were Sara and Madison waving to him. I could also wave to them from our balcony.

Note: For those of you who don’t know, Sara is Cliff’s daughter and Madison is Cliff’s 11 year old granddaughter. They live on the South Island in Christchurch. Sara’s husband is a native New Zealander. Sara and Madison flew from the South Island and stayed overnight with friends so that they could come see us.

To the right of our ship was Wynard Quarter and Silo Park, where there are many restaurants and a beautiful seafood market that takes up an entire city block. In fact, eateries and pubs of all kinds and all price ranges were everywhere around us, lining major avenues and streets. An entire shopping mall area was filled with the most upscale, very high end shops, and there were shops to fit any budget further down QueenStreet.

Joan Peace and I met Cliff, Sara and Madison after we exited the terminal. We had been shopping inside the terminal in two great gift shops. The first thing we did was walk to the Sky Tower that dominates the Auckland skyline. Cliff and Madison rode the elevators to the top while Sara, Joan and I read about the history of the structure and visited the gift shop. The Sky Tower is the tallest man-made structure in New Zealand and the Southern hemisphere, 1072 feet high.

Then we walked back toward the waterfront. The three of them were going on the Ted Ashby sailing yacht out into the harbor, while I visited the shopping district.

Favorites for shoppers are merino woolen wear, sheepskin items, Maori artifacts, New Zealand nephrite jade jewelry, and jewelry carved from bone.

One gift shop had clothing that was a blend of merino wool and possum fur. The common brush tail possum is not native to New Zealand (imported from Australia), but has multiplied out of control, so eradicating them is encouraged. It is considered a pest. It is nothing like the opossum in North America. The brush tail possum devours new buds, fruits/berries and nectar, as well as new growth trees — pretty much all of the plant’s parts. The animal causes tremendous damage to the environment and competes with native birds and reptiles for food sources. New Zealand has no natural predators, so rats and possums are harmful to native birds and other species. There are no snakes, crocodiles, alligators, wolves, foxes — nothing that would help keep an invasive species such as the possum under control.

We all also went to the Auckland Maritime Museum, which was phenomenal. This museum is so large, that it houses the 1988 International America’s Cup KZ1 yacht. The yacht is a 90 foot monohull, the fastest ever built, designed by Bruce Farr. It had a revolutionary carbon fiber spar, and a crew of 40. That year, a catamaran beat the KZ1, but catamarans were against the rules. Lawsuits ensued, but upon appeal, the KZ1 retained the second place title. However, the lawsuits resulted in simplified rules for the Cup, making the KZ1 a pivotal and revolutionary point in global yachting competitions.

What I loved most at the museum, besides the KZ1, were the different historical boats on display from throughout the Polynesian Islands.

Also, you could walk into a room that spirited you back to the time of the immigrants. You could feel the boat move and hear it creek as you viewed how small the bunks were and watched a film depicting what it was like.

The Maori name for Auckland Means "desired by many" or "land of a thousand lovers," referring to abundance of resources, trade routes and vantage points. Built on top of a field of over 50 ancient volcanoes, Auckland is hilly and gorgeously scenic in every direction you look. Now referred to as "the city of volcanoes," Auckland was a very strategic place for the Maori. They considered the hills to be sacred. Lying between the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean, Auckland has two harbors, beaches, and many islands.

Although there are many other things to do, we do recommend very highly that if you ever have the chance to visit Auckland, and you should, that you go to the Maritime Museum, ride the elevators up the Sky Tower, and go on a short sailing adventure (less than an hour and very reasonably priced.)