City of Sails

Fig tree in Devonport
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Friday 12 January 2007 - The flight up from Christchurch was uneventful if you overlook the fact that I managed to leave my mobile in the hire car. They will send it home if they find it!

Auckland was very wet almost all day with a forecast suggesting that it would not get much better. We had a walk down to the harbour to make some bookings for tomorrow and then back to the hotel for more cricket and dinner. Yet again England is thrashed buy Australia- this time in the first of the one dayers.

Bungy jumper at Sky Tower
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Saturday 13 January 2007 – This was a much better day with some unexpected sunshine. We had a very gentle cruise around the harbour which was enjoyable. We have seen more interesting harbours but this was still worthwhile. After lunch we took the ferry (the fare was part of the morning cruise) across to Devonport on the other side of the harbour. This is a very well kept village with some old architecture (that is old by NZ standards). There is a fig tree there which was planted in 1883 and is unusual in that it has external roots emanating from a number of places. There is also a small museum, which was unfortunately closed, with a number of artefacts of an earlier time which included a roller made by Ransome, Sims and Jeffreys, of Ipswich Suffolk - a reminder of home. We had a short walk around before getting the ferry back to the city.

The "Soren Larsen" in Auckland harbour
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In the evening we went to a very nice restaurant on the waterfront called Y Not, run by an Australian couple. Our waitress was a girl from Denmark on a working holiday and we had a number of interesting chats with her. As I have said before, the feature of the holiday that we have enjoyed most has been the people we have met. The ambience was pleasant even though at times it was raining outside. Moored on the same quay was the “Esperanza”, the Greenpeace ship and the “Soren Larsen” a sailing ship used in the BBC TV series of the 1970s “The Onedin Line”. It is shown as being registered Colchester, Essex in England. It was a good way to end our last complete day in New Zealand.

14 January 2007 – Our last day in NZ and it was to be a very long Sunday as on travelling to San Francisco we went back 20 hours, arriving before we left! We were to leave at 8-15 pm and arrive in the USA at 11-15 am the same day. The result is to have Sunday twice.

Back in Auckland we spent over 4 hours in a very interesting National Maritime Museum With many galleries covering the various aspects of maritime history within the country including a section on the America’s Cup which NZ has won twice – only the USA have achieved more wins. This was followed by a trip up to the top of the Sky Tower – the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere – giving excellent views over the Auckland area. The sun was shining and it was a very clear day. The tower has a controlled bungy jump and the jumpers are paused right outside the observation level, giving us an excellent view of the girl taking the plunge.

We got to the airport in good time and the flight to San Francisco was a relatively good one given that it is over 11 hours.