03 April 2006:

In my prior message I didn’t mention our hotel. We are staying at the Langham Hotel in Auckland. It is a very nice hotel with all the amenities that anyone would need. It is centrally located to the business district, which means it is not really central to the tourist district which tends to cling close to the harbor. So, while the Langham has met our every need, it has required a couple of cab rides that might not have been necessary at a different hotel closer to the harbor. But Auckland is not a huge, sprawling city, so the cab rides are very reasonable.

Our first stop of the day was the Kelly Tarlton Aquarium. I highly recommend it….and I highly recommend getting there early. We arrived just as the place opened at 9am and there were only a few people ahead of us in the facility. But, by 10am the crowds were starting to arrive and by 10:30am (when the staff feeds the stingrays in a display pool) there were a lot of families with a whole lot of children in the place. We quickly retreated and took their free shuttle bus down to the harbor to explore the marina and find lunch……and there are many places to choose from if your interests are eating or drinking…..which is just about all that cruise people do think of.

We then headed off to the Victoria Park Market which was billed as a “wonderful shopping district”. It was basically a souvenir shopping mall where you would find the same things that you found in all the other souvenir stores in all the other New Zealand ports. We were not impressed…..and we were not the only ones.

While I was hanging around outside a store waiting for Pam to buy some trinket; a man came up to two other men who were also waiting for their wives. Apparently he knew them because he told them: “Well, boys, we’re screwed (he used a different word with similar meaning, but I can’t use it if I post this email). This is all the hell there is….Just a bunch of junk shops. I can’t believe we came all the way out here for this.”  Well, that’s kind of how I felt.

Note: Auckland is a city of hills. Getting from one point to another may look easy on a map, but in reality, it may require climbing and descending several hills. The shortest route may not be the easiest route to walk.  But taxis are plentiful and reasonably priced, so don’t give up on touring the city.

Our next stop was the Sky City complex and the Sky Tower. The Sky Tower is a 60 story tower that gives a fine view of the city….if you are going to be in Auckland for a couple of days or more it is worth the price of admission just to go up and get oriented with how the city is laid out and how close or far away various attractions are from each other. The Sky City complex is a hotel, casino and shopping area. We stopped in the casino for just a few minutes so that Pam could play a slot machine (she broke even after about 10 pulls and we called it quits). But the nice thing about the casino was how civilized it was. Men were asked to remove their hats before entering, their was no smoking allowed on the main floor and there was no yelling or loud talking. It was like being in the Library of Congress of gambling. I liked that a lot.

But finally it was time to head back to the hotel. I found a bottle shop on the way and purchased a bottle of chardonnay and a large bottle of Stella Artois beer to ease the pain of spending our last night in Auckland. After a quick dinner of pizza in the hotel pub, it was back to the room to start making updates to the trip website for the activities of the last couple of days.

Technical difficulties prevented me from posting photos, but I’ve gotten them under control and pictures should be on the website now.

More later, after we complete our homeward travel marathon.