Auckland, and our trip’s all too quickly coming to an end

The drive from Coromandel to Auckland
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It’s Tuesday evening, and today’s seen a frenzied period of activity – well for us, anyway. We leave tomorrow morning at 4 am (yuck!) for the airport and the first leg of our journey to Singapore.

The drive from the Coromandel Peninsular was yet again a stunner, part of it along the winding roads that we’ve now become used to, with views along the coast, finally picking up the main road into Auckland itself.

Having travelled around New Zealand and rarely encountered more than half a dozen cars at any one time, we arrived in Auckland on Saturday to find it gridlocked! Never have we seen so much traffic since leaving the UK in fact. It turned out that QM2 was in Auckland for the first time ever on its maiden world voyage … and it felt like the whole of New Zealand had turned out to greet her! After arriving at our hotel – eventually – we headed out on foot to join the crowds in glorious weather, plus the thousands of passengers ashore from three other cruise liners, and enjoyed the atmosphere. The evening ended with fireworks at 10 pm as she departed for Sydney to join QE2, and we saw Auckland return to its normal city routine. Looking at the organisation around the town – or lack of – we gathered that the officials had completely underestimated the interest in the event by the New Zealanders.

Arriving in Auckland ... along with everyone else!
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Over the last couple of days, we’ve taken boat trips out and about to Devonport – a naval base and historic village across the harbour where, on Sunday, there was a music, food and wine festival. Rather than pay the entry fee, we found a very nice spot outside a pavement café in the sun, right outside the main entrance, where we could listen to the music in comfort and for free!

Apart from the inevitable last-minute shopping, we’ve been up the Skytower and watched the Sky Jumpers (similar to bungy-jumping but somehow much more secure), and visited trendy residential suburbs including Parnell and Newmarket with their chic boutiques and café culture.

Auckland waterfront and bars
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All-in-all, we’ve loved Auckland and the areas around it, and could happily explore further but sadly that’s it. Singapore here we come!