AUCKLAND

March 11, 2013   

The central part of New Zealand’s largest city occupies a narrow isthmus between the Manukau Harbour on the Tasman Sea and the Waitemata Harbour on the Pacific Ocean.

 Auckland’s nickname is the “City of Sails” and it has more yachts per capita than any other city in the world.  The harbor was full the day we visited.  If, as the inhabitants claim, New Zealand is “God’s own country”, Aucklanders claim, “God would choose to live and work in Auckland.”

As usual, we docked in a busy container terminal so we had to have photo ID with us at all times.  I had booked a tour so we followed the paddle holder to our bus.  Normally, there is a driver and a tour guide, but Ray, our driver, was also the tour guide and a very good one.

His first commentary startled us:  Auckland has many volcanoes, 14 of which are classified as dormant, not extinct.  The entrance to the harbor where we docked is dominated by the cone of Rangitoto – last eruption over 800 years ago but it rumbles regularly.

Maori tribes settled the area of Auckland about 1350 AD.  In 1840, Captain Hobson of the HMS RATTLESNAKE (how appropriate!) named the area Auckland after the 1^st Earl of Auckland and persuaded other English settlers to move in.  He was subsequently ordered to draw up a treaty with the Maori clans – the still controversial Waitangi treaty.

The first stop on the tour was the SKY TOWER – oh joy, a very high place!  An attraction (for some) is that part of the floor of the terrace on the 50^th ??  floor is glass.

Katie, who was also not excited about high places, joined me for a walk-about.  We discovered St. Matthew in The City Episcopal Church and it was open. 

Then we had a desultory cup of tea, complete with desultory service.

The tour was a short one, chosen deliberately as I now hate long bus rides.  Actually it’s my knee which refuses to cooperate.  But the driver thought we would not get our money’s worth so he took the “scenic route” to our next destination.  This meant a drive through exclusive neighborhoods with $5-30m homes - the NZ dollar and the American dollar are just about equal – and magnificent views of the various bays.  His commentary was just enough to be interesting but not overwhelming.

The highlight of the tour was of course the aquarium:  Kelly Tarlton’s Underwater World and Antarctic Encounter.

http://www.kellytarltons.co.nz/

The Antarctic Encounter was first – a replica of the hut built and provisioned for the Scott expedition.  Sir Robert Falcon Scott (1868 – 1912) and 4 companions made a sledge journey to the South Pole.  When they arrived they discovered that Roald Amundsen had beaten them by only a month.  All 5 died on the trip back to their base camp.

Roald Amundsen (1872-1928) not only was the first to reach the South Pole in 1911, he was also the first to navigate the North-West Passage (1903-06) when he located the site of the magnetic North Pole.  Being photographed by his statue in Norway was a highlight.

As interesting as that was, the first marine exhibition was the main attraction for me – the giant squid.   There is a larger squid, the Colossal Squid, the remains of one are in Wellington, but this was quite a find.  They live at such great depths that finding even a part of one is amazing.

From there the path led to the tunnel with sharks and rays swimming around us.  Then, the various sea creatures, especially the sea horses and corals.  The time spent there went much too fast.