Our last full day on North Island, New Zealand. Hugh drove us all to Auckland city centre and we parked up by the main marina. We had lunch at the Soul bar and bistro. This restaurant is in the heart of Auckland’s Viaduct Harbour. We sat outside looking across the water that takes in America’s Cup boats, super yachts and the ferries. On this occasion we were very fortunate to catch the end of the Louis Vuitton Trophy Auckland which ran from the 9th March until today – the 21st March. What made it even better was that we were right there at the same place at the start of our North Island adventure when Hugh took us over on the ferry.
So, after lunch we had a good mooch around the marina and marvelled at the super yachts and enjoyed all the media circus that surrounded the race coverage. It was announced the winning boat (New Zealand, of course) would come in at 3:00pm so we waited for that and witnessed all the excitement and spraying of champagne and the speeches. It was great when we watched it all again on the news.We returned to the car and Hugh took us on a tour of the city. We went up to Mount Eden, which you are supposed to call Maungawhau. Auckland has around 40 or so volcanoes and this is probably the biggest. At the top you get to look down inside the crater, now all covered in grass. The views over the city are just spectacular.
We then drove over to another peak, this one is called One Tree Hill. This is because it had a tree on it. A very old tree but apparently the Maoris cut it down for some reason so now the locals call it no tree hill. I like that. It now has a monument on the top. One Tree Hill is in Cornwall Park and this is the largest area of parkland in Auckland city. We returned home and crashed out for a while. It is really hard work enjoying yourself.
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