Auckland – The City of Sails
Friday, December 7th, 2007Thursday’s salsa night at Mexicali… apparently not the rage. We were the only two salsa people there in addition to the DJ and the three girls he was entertaining. We slept through our 8:30pm reservation at Minus 5, a bar where everything, including the people, are made of ice. No, but really it is a complete ice bar with ice glasses, seats, etc. Maybe we will go back tonight.
Auckland is a great city with beautiful parks, neighborhoods, the ocean all around, and a bustling city center. We woke up at 6am yesterday and decided to take a walk. Three hours later we had seen Albert Park, the University of Auckland, Auckland Domain (the largest park in Auckland) and Parnell, a trendy neighborhood. For lunch we took the ferry to Devonport, a quaint island town. US Comparison: Martha’s Vinyard. We dined on some excellent fish and chips and climbed up to Mount Victoria, an inactive volcano. From the top we had wonderful views of Auckland and it’s surrounding volcanos. We then walked up the beach and watched dozens of people kite surfing.
Still suffering from jet lag, we took a nap at 6 and didn’t wake up until 10pm. While alcohol was quite easy to find, late night eats were not. We ended up at one of the many kabob stands. The food here is quite expensive so it is hard to stay within our $100/day travel budget, but hey, no worries, as the Kiwi’s often say.
The plan for today: Up to the top of the Sky Tower (the tallest building in NZ), lunch in Ponsomby (a nice neighborhood in Auckland), and the Christmas in the Park festival at the Auckland domain.
Paula
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