Auckland, New Zealand

Auckland is a beautiful city south of Bay of Islands in the North Island and reminded me very much of Seattle.  It used to be the capital of NZ from 1842 to 1865, at which time Wellington in the South Island became its capital. 

Another excursion took us to the Sky Tower, the tallest man-made structure in NZ and the Southern hemisphere.  There is a 360 degree revolving restaurant at the top and towers 1072 feet in the air and portions of the observation deck were glass floored. 

Michael doesn’t like being as tall as he is, but was a good sport and went as far as the 51^st floor and stayed pretty much in the middle so he didn’t have to look out or down.  I went to the 60^th floor and took some photos of the city.  The brochure that was given to us when we got on the elevator shows a panoramic view of all the various highlights of the city which, again, from the 60^th floor looked a lot like Seattle. 

They also had a Sky Tower “Sky Jump” which lets you jump 630 feet off of the 60^th floor.  I’ve done parasailing and indoor sky diving and felt no need to add this to my repertoire of crazy things I’ve done in my lifetime.  I now have an unwritten policy (which can be amended if there was something I REALLY felt the need to do):  if the activity requires me to waive liability, I ain’t doing it.  

After the Sky Tower, we went to world-class Kelly Tarlton’s Sea Life Aquarium.  It included interactive displays and viewing stations offering a unique perspective on NZ’s Pacific ocean history.   It had acrylic tunnels we walked through with 23 sharks comprised of 4 different species, stingray and fish swimming all around us.  It also had dozens of King penguins and Gentoos, which are always fun to watch.  I believe our guide said there were nine eggs incubating.  

New Zealand is also the home of the Maori people, people who came from different parts of the South Pacific and were fierce warriors.  Several Maori came onboard to present us with “Haka, The Legend Show” and performed Maori songs, poi ball and stick dancing.  Apparently, they perform a “haka” before Rugby games and is, indeed, fierce looking and sounding.  Part of the performance, whether during their battles, at Rugby games, or on our cruise, includes amazingly ferocious facial expressions – bulging eyes, open mouths, and distended tongue flipping.  We were hoping that, as in Tahiti, the performers would stay after the show and take pictures with us but they had to get off the ship because we were leaving soon.  However, we did ask one of the men named Teina if he would take a photo with me and he graciously obliged exhibiting that warrior face.  

Michael’s Thoughts:   Our first stop was the world famous Sky Tower.  As a person who dislikes heights, it was amazing to start our experience on a high-speed transparent elevator;  my ears popped half way up.  Unlike Leona who bravely went to the windows and transparent floor panels, I hovered near the coffee shop and pretended I was watching a big screen tv as I viewed the giant windows from afar.  Again, our weather luck held up and the views were spectacular.  Very much like our own Space Needle which has a wonderful coffee shop.