Monday 2 April 2012

Auckland

We left the rain in Russell and headed south for our last night in the van. 3 hours south we arrived in Orewa Beach - in the rain. We had a great pitch overlooking the beach - apparently! 

The next morning we packed up our stuff, cleaned the van (DS smashed a glass on the last morning!!!) and headed for Auckland.  As it was Amy's birthday while we were there we booked a nice hotel suite at Hotel DeBrett in the centre of town. Driving the van down little side streets to drop our bags off produced the bluest language of the trip so far - it was so tight! 

Hotel DeBrett


Not that hungry
After dropping the van off and coming back into Auckland we started to explore the city - just as the rain started lashing down. The hotel gave us an umbrella and a map and we were off! We found a Starbucks and took refuge!

That evening the rain was still turning roads into rivers as we headed out for food. We passed a few dodgy looking places before discovering Monsoon Poon - a Malaysia restaurant that also had a branch in Wellington that Damian had recommended. A few cocktails and a lot of food later we walked home - luckily the rain had stopped as someone had stolen the hotel umbrella!






The next day was Amy's birthday and the sun was shining as we headed out to Viaduct Harbour. The Volvo Round the World Race (Americas Cup) had just left a few days before we arrived, but the harbour was still full of enormous, expensive yachts that had come in for the party.

Ferry Building
 The Soul Bar & Grill hosted this years birthday lunch celebrations - with a good dose of sunshine, Savvy B and great food.
Birthday girl
Fool



Viaduct Harbour

After lunch we strolled around the harbour and the city centre, before finding Albert Park and settling in for a late afternoon rest. 




The funniest double act buskers in Auckland!

As we hadn't eaten for literally hours, we headed down to The Kitchen, the hotel's award winning restaurant.

Still the Birthday girl


Can't take her anywhere!

SMILE!!!!

Amazing

Awesome

The sun was still out the next morning as we boarded a ferry and headed across the Hauraki Gulf bound for Waiheke Island, 40 minutes from Auckalnd.

Not a bad view
Waiheke translates as "the descending waters"which  refers to when Maori explorer Kahumatamomoe landed on the island and urinated. Nice eh!

It has 8000 residents, but 1000s of tourists flock here each day during the summer to escape the city. It has pretty little tea rooms, some great walks and miles of unspoiled and uncrowded beaches.

We walked a few tracks around Oneroa and Blackpool, before getting the scenic bus to Onetangi and back to Matiatia to get the ferry back to Auckland.

Village life

Not sure if they are permanent residents

Little Oneroa Beach hut

Little Oneroa Beach

Blackpool


As the sun was still out we headed up the Auckland tower - the tallest structure in the southern hemishere (although the viewing deck in Melbourne's Eureka Tower is higher than the viewing deck here).

Like a little CN Tower

Brave eh!?!

CBD & Viaduct Harbour

CBD to Mount Eden (right) and One Tree Hill (left)

Mount Eden

The Domain 

Harbour Bridge

Rangitoto Island

We came back after dark too!





 The next day was our last in Auckland and in NZ and after packing we wandered around Britomart, the new cool part of town that has been gentrified and modernized and is home to trendy cafes and bars, boutique shops and street art.

We got to the airport just as the heavens opened and the rain was back.  We boarded the A380 and were Sydney bound!
Awesome Plane


Huge screens with over 2500 movie,TV and on-board camera options! 



No comments:

Post a Comment