Auckland, New Zealand - City of Sails in the Land of the Long White Cloud

Auckland, New Zealand: City of Sails in the Land of the Long White Cloud

Kia ora to Autearoa!  Welcome to the Land of the Long White Cloud!  I must admit that this month of the cruise (all of the ports being in New Zealand and Australia) is the one I’ve very eagerly awaited.  While I look forward to Africa, I don’t yet know what I’m missing there, and having been to both New Zealand and Australia before, I have been very, very anxious to return!

New Zealand is a small country of about 105,000 square miles with a population of about 4.2 million people.  Originally settled by the Maori people (believed to have come from Rarotonga, Cook Islands), it forms one of the three angles of the Polynesian triangle (the other two being Hawaii and Easter Island).  All the islands within were settled some time or other by the Polynesians, who navigated the Pacific waters in their canoes hundreds of years ago.

Part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, New Zealand boasts many volcanoes, and of course recent earthquakes have changed the land quite a bit!  Being just over the International Dateline, New Zealand is officially the first country to greet each new day. 

Having had to miss the Cook Islands, we found ourselves with a small bonus of arriving in Auckland about 12 hours early, which was perfectly fine with us!  We met our friends Bob & Nancy in the Lido for dinner that first night, had a quick dinner (while running out on deck to snap pictures of the spectacular sail-in), and then headed out for a walk around town.

Because of its dependence upon the agricultural industry (both farming and sheep herding – New Zealand has a little more than 10 times as many sheep as people, with approximately 45 million sheep), New Zealand has very strict laws about what a person can bring ashore.  No water other than commercially bottled water, no fruits, seeds, nuts, flowers, etc.  This makes it very difficult to take anything ashore to snack on.  I was even reluctant to take a granola bar because it contained almonds, and the fines are very hefty!  I can’t blame them, though, as their economy is so dependent upon farming!   Once the ship was cleared by customs, we walked ashore (a welcome thought after three of the last four ports being tender ports).  In some ports they have security beagles checking people’s bags as they exit the ship, and though we fully expected to be greeted by a few dogs, none were present. 

Our friend Carole, born in Auckland, had suggested that we might want to visit the harbor.   As we left the ship, we stopped briefly to check with Barbara, the travel guide, and asked her what she would recommend.  Her comment?  “Go to the right and walk along the harbor.”  So with two very knowledgeable people giving us the same recommendation, we decided to follow their advice, and we were very pleased that we did!  

A short walk stretched much longer by many, many photographs (all four of us were stopping every few feet to snap a picture, trying to capture that perfect angle of whatever the subject might be) brought us to the Westhaven Boat Harbour.  If I remember correctly, the tour guide we had on one of our excursions told us that this is the largest harbor in the Southern Hemisphere, with over 2000 boats of various kinds moored there.  Couple that with the many yachts that are now here for the preliminaries of the America’s Cup (to be held February 7-10), and I don’t think we’ve ever seen so many large and beautiful yachts and sailboats in one place!  We could definitely see why one of Auckland’s nicknames is “City of Sails”!  Ever present in the background was the Sky Tower.  At 390 meters, it is the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere.  (We were told that the locals call it “the syringe” because it houses an expensive hotel and casino so suctions the cash away from people very quickly!)  Add an amazing sunset bursting from behind pink clouds and reflecting in the windows of the many tall buildings, and all of us were like kids in a candy store! 

Our first full day in Auckland found us on a shore excursion, “Coast to Coast”, which took us from the east coast, where Auckland is located, to the west coast.  To someone from North America, this might sound like quite a daunting excursion, but in reality the distance from Auckland to the west coast is less than 25 miles.  We were glad to have opted for an excursion that day because it was Waitangi Day, which is a holiday quite similar to our Independence Day.  February 6, 1840 was when the Maori signed an agreement with the British to have joint rule over the islands of New Zealand.  For a period of time after that, the Maori people were forced to assimilate into the British culture, but recent efforts have made it possible for the Maori people to reestablish their language and cultural heritage.  So this was a true day of celebration for the people of New Zealand.  Many businesses were closed, but with three ships in port, needless to say, the souvenir stores made sure they were ready to welcome guests from abroad!

We thoroughly enjoyed our trip across this narrow part of the country, and we were absolutely delighted to make a stop at a sheep farm.  The owner welcomed us warmly, inviting us in for tea or coffee or juice as well as a few light snacks (I think we counted about 10 different yummy items that we could sample).  She told us that we were free to wander through the gardens, visit the interior of their home, feed the fallow deer, and then watch a sheepdog and shearing demonstration.  The deer eagerly came over to eat right out of our hands so I was very happy to stay there – till it was time to watch the Border Collie, Squeak, in action.  (I have to admit that it made me miss Molly.)  Squeak was so eager to herd the Suffolk sheep that she didn’t want to listen to her handler.   If any sheep started to stray away, even if he wanted them to stray so that he could display her talents of regathering the flock, she would jump up and start herding before they could get too far.  These dogs are incredibly intelligent and really have wonderful control of the sheep.  Once herded into a pen, one of the sheep was selected for shearing.  Resigned to its fate, it was very cooperative, and the shearer explained about pressure points used by shearers to be able to control the sheep and do the job very quickly.  A few minutes later the sheep was released, minus her wool coat.  One interesting fact we learned from our tour guide was that a sheep’s wool was taxed, and black sheep’s wool had a much, much lower tax, making it more desirable for people who couldn’t afford the expensive white wool.  Hence the song, “Baa, baa, black sheep, have you any wool?” 

As we prepared to leave, the farm owner’s granddaughter boarded the bus and climbed onto the lap of one of the passengers.  In a wheelchair, he had been unable to get past the cattle grid on the driveway to see the sheep demonstration so he passed his time having wheelchair-tricycle races with the little girl, who was absolutely delighted with the attention.  She had made a new American friend and she wanted to accompany him home (though we think she probably would have changed her mind by the time   we got to the end of the long driveway)!

From there we headed Muriwai and the Takapu Refuge Walk where we took a short hike to view one of the largest gannet colonies in the world.  Graceful fliers, these Australasian gannets certainly do have a clumsy way of landing!  We really were entertained watching them!  Gannets mate for life and have one chick a year.  Chicks were born a few months ago and we saw many “gannet families” with two parents taking care of their downy chicks. 

Although the tour ran an hour late, nobody minded at all; we had had some wonderful experiences for our first full day in New Zealand, and the day wasn’t over yet!  

We had a very quick lunch, then headed out to wander around town.  We headed up Queen Street and split up to do some shopping.  I have to say that I certainly helped to support the economy of New Zealand, particularly Auckland!  I wandered from shop to shop, finding all sorts of things and had to be careful not to overdo the spending.  After all, we still have nearly three months left and I can only bring in so much that’s duty free.  I did manage to find some Manuka honey, a New Zealand specialty.  Manuka honey is made from the flower of the manuka tree, pollinated by bees of course, and is very good for one’s health. Most manuka honey jars have health “ratings”, explaining exactly what benefits that particular jar will provide.  The stronger the benefits, the higher the price.  Back in 2009, I bought two very small jars in a souvenir shop and paid something like $30 US for them.  This time I got smart and made my purchase in a grocery store rather than a souvenir shop, and the price was much more reasonable – a bottle about four times the size for less than $10 US. 

By the time I limped back to the ship I was ready to be done for the day.  I had walked far more than usual in the first 24 hours in New Zealand.  So I tried to kick back and relax for awhile, but the evening was busy, and the entertainment was a one-show-only folkloric show of Maori dancers at 9:30. Of course we didn’t want to miss that!  It was interesting, giving a lot of the history of the Maori people as well as the dances.   The last time we were in Hawaii and visited the Polynesian Cultural Center, we enjoyed the boat parade because of the various Polynesian cultures we’d visited.  At that time, although we’d been to Aotearoa (NZ), we hadn’t learned the history of the Maori dances, so if we ever have a chance to go to the PCC again, we will fully appreciate what we’re watching!

The second full day in Auckland was more relaxing for me.  Chuck had a shore excursion, but I wanted a little R&R with four more busy NZ ports coming up in the following four days.  I wanted to see if I could get information about the America’s Cup races going on that day so I had to go off the ship to talk to the travel guide.  The only problem was that since I was just going off to ask her a question, I took my ship ID, but I forgot my state ID.  Remember my comment about the strictness of NZ?  I had to be escorted back to the ship (I’d only been off about three minutes) so NZ security could make sure I wasn’t a budding terrorist!   Oops!  I should have taken my purse!  Lesson learned!  

BT

New Zealand is the place it seems where Barb and I chose separate excursions. Auckland is the first of three New Zealand ports where I did an excursion separate from her.  While she chose to spend her day in Auckland, just before we left home, I decided to do an easy excursion to one of Auckland’s more notable suburbs, Devonport, a seaside community to the north.

The tour bus took us past the harbor that we had walked our first night in Auckland but gave us a different perspective from the walking view. We then drove near the coast, across the long Auckland Bridge to the upscale village of Devonport.  We drove past some beautifully maintained small homes constructed in late 19^th century colonial style which cannot be substantially changed as a result of designation by New Zealand’s equivalent of historic preservation.  Most homes had flowers and shrubbery, some so thick it was difficult to see the homes behind, but others which seemed to display the attractive architecture, almost saying, “Look at me.  Don’t I look great?” 

We traveled up two separate hills for great views of the city and harbor area, but the second, higher hill, Mt. Victoria right in the heart of Devenport, gave spectacular views of the surrounding areas including views of the channel which we navigated into Auckland and then views of the downtown including the iconic Auckland Sky Tower as well as the Harbour Bridge, the Viaduct Wharf area where we saw the boats and yachts near our ship, and our home away from home, the ms Amsterdam!  With beautiful blue skies, everything made for great pictures.

After our tour, we were given tickets for the 12 minute ferry ride back to the port.  It was located directly next to our ship so I was back on board within three or four minutes after getting off the ferry.  Following a quick lunch onboard, Barb and I took the computer out to see if we could get some more inexpensive or free WiFi to at least get some pictures into the blog.  We found a McDonalds, got online, but the loading of the pictures was so slow, we gave up in despair.  So it may have been free WiFi, but it’s of no value when we can’t accomplish our goals.  It was time wasted from the precious last couple hours in a major city.   So we reboarded having gotten just one picture posted. 

Now it’s on to Tauranga, the second of our five New Zealand ports.

CT

P.S. Somehow this post got deleted.  It will now appear to have occurred after Tauranga.  We were in Auckland on the 5th through the 7th and Tauranga on the 8th.  Oops!!!