Day 9 Auckland
Leaving the
ship was fuss free. There was not even a passport check. After breakfast and a
turn around the deck, we mustered in the Royal Court Theatre and then led out
to the gangplank. It was a short kilometre walk to the hotel on Queen St, where
at the City Life hotel we were upgraded to an apartment – and an early check-in
at 9am.
We stashed
our bags and were quickly back on the street. We walked up to a flower-filled Albert
Park that overlooked the city below and passed the University of Auckland. We
found our way to the Auckland Domain and the Wintergarden, which had an
impressive array of exotic flowers in a classical conservatory setting. The
long walk up the hill and through the gardens left us feeling a bit tired and
thirsty so a stop at the Wintergarden Cafe was called for. It was also an
opportunity to text Ginny and confirm the pickup details.
Leaving the
Wintergarden we crossed to the museum and war memorial, which held a commanding
site overlooking Auckland. There was a terrific display of the cultural
artefacts of both Maori and other Pacific Islander nations. There was a realistic
volcano exhibit and a house that you could enter and experience what an
earthquake shock felt like. It felt like someone had punched the floor with a
huge metal club.
For us
though, the highlight was a virtual tour of Antarctica. This was the first time
Johnny and I had used VR technology and it was pretty amazing. It felt as if we
were a step away from the guides and the feeling of being in the helicopter was
so realistic that I had to look up in the air to stop that sickly feeling.
After that we had a spot of lunch in the museum and completed a tour of the war
memorial.
With feet
feeling the 14,000 steps we had walked, we decided to walk down to Parnell Rd
and catch a bus back to the hotel for a cup of tea and a rest. While I was
resting, Johnny did a search for nearby Asian restaurants. It was a pleasantly warm evening so we walked
past a few and finally opted for Thai food, then a walk back to the hotel to watch
TV. The streets were still full of young people so the mood of holiday
persisted.
