Auckland-St Patricks day- & Waiheke
Greetings from Auckland, New Zealand’s big city!
Approximately 1/3rd of the 4 million New Zealanders live here in Auckland on the Northern part of the North Island. Home to the Sky Tower, the imposing landmark, tallest building in the southern hemisphere can be seen from pretty much any point in the city.
Español: Hola desde Auckland- La ciudad mas grande de Nueva Zelanda.! Aproximadamente un tercio de 4 millones (la poblacion de NZ) vive aqui en Auckland al Norte de la isla. El Sky Tower es el simbolo de la ciudad siendo la torre mas alta del hemisferio sur y puede verse desde casi toda la ciudad.
CLose-up of the Sky Tower, you can jump off from the viewing deck if you’ve got the nerve, I was so close to doing it, after plucking up the courage to do it, it just happened to be too late, so will have to leave it to another time… hehehe…. Looks scary, it’s a good 175m drop to the bottom! This being home of the bungy jump, I’m sure there’ll be lots of opportunities to do something similar!
Esp: Otra vista del Sky tower, se puede saltar desde arriva si tienes lo que hay que tener para hacerlo. James valientemente estaba dispuesto a saltar pero justo estaban cerrando, asi que cuando volvamos a Auckland.. Desde arriba parece bastante impresionante nada menos que 175 m de altura..!
Mmmmm…. nice view, eh? 
Seguro que la ciudad se ve preciosa desde arriba.. algun voluntario??? !
We had planned to see U2 play here but as I’m sure you’ve heard by now they cancelled the last few gigs of their World Tour, so we ended up going for a ‘few’ drinks on Paddy’s day instead. There was a lot of green about that day!
Esp: Teniamos planeado ir a ver U2, pero como ya sabeis cancelaron los ultimos conciertos de su gira mundial, asi que sin planes nos fuimos a tomar unas pintas el dia de San Patricio (como manda la tradicion).
Cool Guinness poster to celebrate the day: 
Esp: Si no os habeis fijado en el poster es el numero 17 (Paddy’s day) y a la vez una pinta de Guinness, por algo dicen que hacen los mejores anuncios, tan simple , tan efectivo.
We met up with Rob, a friend of my big bro who’s been living here for 6 years!
Esp: En el camino vamos visitando a amigos de amigos, en este caso Rob, amigo de Colm (hermano de James). Quene con la camiseta verde de vertigo de la gira de U2… Que pena 🙁
The big day, here at O’Hagans down by the Viaduct area in the harbour.
Esp: Green day, dia de San Patricio, todo el mundo de verde, ese dia no importa lo lejos que estes de Irlanda, todo el mundo es Irlandes.
Having a bit of trouble being able to ‘focus’ !!!! 
Esp: Despues de unas cuantas ya es dificil enfocar..!!! 😉
Next day we took the ferry out to Waiheke Island and hired a mini-jeep and drove around the island!
Esp: Desde Auckland se puede coger los ferris para visitar varias islas, en este caso Waiheke, donde alquilamos un mini 4×4 y estuvimos conduciendo alrededor de la isla y disfrutando de aire fresco y paisajes de cuento.
Yes, it was tiny!!! 
Esp: …Tan pequeño era el jeep que cabia en la palma de la mano
Well not that small, but not much bigger than a mini!!!!! 
Esp: No importa lo pequeño que era, lo importante es que cabiamos..!!
Beautiful sunset view of the Harbour Bridge from Devonport on the far side of the harbour from the city.
Esp: Desde el otro lado de Auckland Devonport se puede ver la puesta de sol de un tipico dia de otoño..de un tipico Domingo.
Oh so far away, yet with the wonders of the web we’re so close!!!
Esp: Estamos tan lejos de Europa y a la vez con la magia de internet …tan cerca..!
View of the city from Mt Eden volcano, Auckland has 48 volcanoes (inactive!) dotted around the city.
Esp: Vista de la ciudad desde el volcan Mt Eden, Auckland tiene 48 volcanes alrededor de la ciudad… pero tranquilos no estan activos..!
The city of 2s, no U2, just lots of 2s… hehehe cool pic!
Esp: La ciudad de los doses… !! James practicando su caligrafia con la camara.
Finally another view of the city from Mission Bay, a nice suburb by the beach.
Esp:Otra vista desde Mission Bay, el suburbio perfecto…casas impresionantes.
Well that’s all from Auckland, will be back soon with more posts from the Wet North Island.
Esp: Sentimos que nos este costando tanto poner nuevos posts, aqui los internet cafes no estan tan avanzados y no hay tantos..pero poco a poco os iremos enseñando varias sorpresas que tenemos preparadas..
Ciao tutti!
Besos como quesos
James & Quene
James & Quene
Hey folks starting to realise the SPanish is not a direct translation of the English!! Maye I can learn some Spanish this way.. The 2s picture is well cool! When are you going to Hobbiton??
Al was over at the weekend, floated the idea that all the men should grow moustaches for the cruise 😉 could be a laugh – the stop-off towns wont know what hit them. There are 49 confirmed this year. We’ll have a drink for ye, and hey maybe we’ll arrange for someone to ram a boat, also in your memory 🙂
Hey lads,
well we’ve arrived home from Hong Kong and were not happy bout it at all. 🙁 we loved it there. gona hopefully go back before the summer is out.so much more we wanted to do and see. we went to mainland China on Saturday.What an experience! the difference from Hong Kong is huge. we couldnt believe the poverty.
so how are you both enjoying NZ? The blog looks great.Id say St.Patricks day was great craic there.
anyways, just a quick one.were still jet lagged. Were full of energy one minute and falling asleep the next.
take care of yourselves.we’l post up again soon.
M & P. 😉
que paxa pichoncines!!!!
que morro que teneis, por la pinta de las fotos os lo teneis que estar pasando super hiper mega genial….
Al final la comunion de Elio es el 20 de mayo, que lastima que no podais estar, pero tranquis, porque pienso hacer mil fotos jejeje…
¿Sabes que? me han invitado a la boda de la hermana de Rober, que fuerte, ya soy de la family… jejeje
bueno bicho, no se si te aparecerá dos veces este comentario, pero es que me he liado para enviarlo. el que vale es este okis?? jejeje
bueno wapos que os cuideis mogollon de mogollones chicarrones del norte.. jijijiji
besos como quesos y…. bleeding georgeus
4k, Agus & Paloma
Hola nena de arriba, belleza gorgeous girl…
Quenes, cada vez que entro a la página ya no miro casi los paisajes, sino lo guapa que estás. Me he impreso la del coche, no veas cómo presumo de herma… : )
Se te ve preciosa y feliz y eso me hace feliz, muy feliz…
Te quiero,
dime qué grupos buenos de rock hay, sólo tengo a the frames, beso !
*
Que pasa pichiolinas,
Pues gracias por los piropos…solo publicamos las fotos de los angulos buenos…juajuajua..
He mandado otro paquete, solo queria mandar los cd’s pero empeze a ver cosas que me gustaban, camiseta pa Elio…y me enrede y ala !! paqueton otra vez..esta vez solo uno asi, hay dos bolsas la amarilla es para la casa a la brasa o Dr Castelo St y la otra para Fanfernando.
B says,
Dejame pensar unos dias… The yeah yeah yeahs, son americanos pero me recuerdan a Australia porque lo ponian en la radio todos los dias, tienen album nuevo (tienen 2)… asi que check it out..
http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/music/default.htm
Artic Monkeys , hice comprar a Richie el album en Wellington ,no lo escuche mucho pero escuche ‘I bet you look good in the dance floor’ tiene otra creo que la 11 en el cd.
Y mayana pienso mas ..que tengo que subir fotos..con mas sorpresas!!
Ah.. antes de empezar a subir fotos.. ‘The living end’ : escucha Wake up .. Inma si estas por ahi ..lo mismo , entra en el link hay muchos grupos australianos que no llegan a europa..
Hi Mairead,
might be an interesting exercise to compare, but yes it’s never a good thing to translate things too literally, you usually end up losing the spirit of the original if you just translate word for word! You tried that babel fish translator, it’s a laugh. PaulMcG, if you’re reading you could post the URL!
The ‘2’ pic came out by chance, due to my crappy camera, and a very shakey ferry!
Been to Hobbiton the other day, great spot, working on getting those pics up soon!!!
I think Al’s idea is great, hey maybe I’ll even grow one too and go boating somewhere here just to get in the spirit of the whole thing, hahaha!!!! 49, you could hire out the titanic soon! So when’s the boose cruize happenin this year?
Howdy Mon & Pete,
sounds like you had a good time, great spot Hong Kong innit? Yea, big difference between HK and the mainland, you go to Shenzhen? Apparently that’s one of the richer cities in China… you venture further up north and you really see the poverty in the small towns. Hope you get over the jetlag quick! Hope to be on the South Island next week sometime, just goiung to send Sandra an email to let her know…
Take it easy guys,
hugs,
James & Quene
Hey lads,
Yep we went to Shenzhen.The poverty there was rampant so i can imagine the rest of China. We heard that was supposed to be a rich city. I have my doubts. A great experience all the same, couldnt wait to get back over the border to Hong Kong. 🙂
Jet lag has been and gone, too busy to think bout sleeping with Uni and Pete straight back to work. Already planning our next holiday. Maybe South America in the summer if you and Christina are going to be there?Lar was saying the same.
My sis moved house last week so she might be slow checking mails.i will text you her mobile num and house num so you can give her a call.Shes expecting you’s anyway.Youl love it there.Its beautiful.You have to do a bungy and post up the pics. 😉
Anyways, have a great time and we’l post up again soon.
Take care,
M & P 😉
Hey lads!
I better ‘stick up’ for Shenzhen before we get another nasty e-mail from a local!
Shenzhen is a thriving business centre. It has special economic status under the umbrella of Chinese rule. Some facts, the majority of the people there were not born there. People flock there for work and in search of riches. It is an economic phenomenon and it’s proximity (it couldn’t be any closer) to Hong Kong has helped in this regard. I won’t go any further down that route or it will turn into an economics lesson…
As with almost all big cities, there are beggars, hawkers (some very annoying) and there is crime too. However, comparitively speaking I would not say that there is a lot of any of these – except the hawkers, who seem to outnumber the shoppers at times.
We met a local while we were there and she warned us about the place, saying that it was highly dangerous! We therefore didn’t venture too far inside and didn’t hang around anywhere for long, but as I suspected I have since found out that she was definitely just scaremongering as I expected at the time!
It is a safe place. It is clean. Things do happen however and some places are dirty but that’s the same everywhere!
Mon and Pete, I still haven’t found out why the taxis wouldn’t take us. J&C we got turned down directly by I think 5 taxi drivers and many more just drove past us! Can you shed any light on that? It was very unusual! All I can think of is the language barrier!
Cya!
Mon, Pete & Lar,
we too did experience some dodgy goings on in Shenzhen, a few shoe cleaners/pick pockets while you focus on them doing the job on your shoes one of their accomplices swipes your wallet! But as Larry mentioned that goes for any large city where people are lured by the hope of making it rich, not just in China but everywhere!!!! New York, London, even Dublin have their fair share of pickpocets and beggars…
As for the taxis, we had a couple of bad experiences in Beijing, part language barrier and part lack of sense of direction on behalf of the driver, they didn’t know how to get where we wanted to go despite us handing them a map and pointing out our destination. It all got a bit frustrating in the end so we decided to stick with metro and buses, oh and we walked a lot! Maybe in Shenzhen they just couldn’t be bothered with the hassle of transporting foreigners, I dunno…
Will drop you a text for your sis’s details.
Ciao for now!
Ah. Mañana vamos a cruzar el parque Nacional de Tongarino, estaremos 8 horas andando mientras estais soñando (debido a la diferencia horaria) Cerca de aqui se rodo la parte de Mordor en el Señor de los anillos… pero no nos pilla en el camino.
Hey guys we forgot, Tomorrow we cross the Tongarino National Park, eight hours walking while you are sleeping (due the time difference) Richie you will be working.
Near here was where they filmed Mordor in the Lord of the Rings but we are not going to be near.. If we see any Orcs we will take a pic for yous.
See yas!