Sunday in the sun!!! 9/1/2011

Today was a ferry ride to Waiheke Island.  As you will have worked out by now ferry rides are a must here as the bay of Auckland is full of Islands.

We decided to take the Waiheke Explorer Tour as once you got off the ferry a bus was waiting to give a 1½ hour guided tour of the Island. 

What spectacular views, the photos we take do not do  justice to the beauty we see.

The last stop that the bus did was Onetangi Beach where you could either get out for a short visit or stay; we stayed.  We had our swimmers on, no more blow the privacy HA!!

  

The sea here is so clean and clear.  After a couple of hours of sunbathing, and swimming for Pino, we caught the public transport bus and we got out at Oneroa a lovely little shopping village, with of course the wonderful sea and beach views.   

We decided to walk to Matiatia Harbour from Oneroa a mere 20 minutes, that helped to work off our lazy day.

Ferry ride back to Auckland Harbour, a shower and once again an evening meal of fish. 

Climbing up a volcano! 8/1/2011

Today we took the ferry over to Rangitoto Island, it is a Volcanic Island with no population. 

Sturdy shoes were needed for climbing the volcanic rocks, and plenty of water and lunch because there are no shop facilities.  

It was 1 and a half hour of hard climbing to get to the top but the view once we got there was well worth the effort.  Eating our packed lunch while looking at the wonderful view of Auckland was amazing.

  

Afterwards we did the 15 minute walk around the crater rim track. 

We then started to descend towards McKenzie Bay and Beacon lighthouse which was another hour of walking but this time downhill.  Once we got there we had a surprise, there was a lovely little beach with the most crystal clear sea water,  we had our swimmers with us so it was blow privacy to the wind and change! How we enjoyed that cool clear water after all the walking we had been doing. 

No time to hang around as we had to get back to the Harbour before 5pm when the last ferry left.  We had another 2 hours walk to get there.  Made it!!!!!

Once we got back to the hotel it was wash the volcanic ash off of our sneakers, and have a nice shower.

Foot Note:

We want to thank Virgin Active Gym because without their training we would have had a hard time doing a day on a volcano! 

Maori Experience. 7/1/2011

Today we visited the Auckland Museum it is renowned for it’s unique collection of Maori and Pacific treasures.  The walk was quite long and steep, Auckland has been built on extinct volcano’s so it is very up and down.  Not only were there lots to see but we also saw a Maori cultural performance which was spectacular.  

The Maori culture is very much a part of New Zealand which you can see everywhere. 

One of the other things very interesting was a room made to be like in a home where there was the television news doing a breaking story about an imminent volcano eruption, the room vibrated and when the volcano erupted you experienced what it would be like, also there was a photo as if it was a view from the window which showed what you saw before then after, it was quite frightening the level of destruction.  Makes you hope that it will never occur.

We then walked to the famous Parnell shopping village which is famous for it’s speciality shops.

The trees here are magnificent I am in awe every time we pass them.  The greenery is wonderful, it  must be that little bit of England that is here!

Back to the hotel and mussels for our evening meal, we are making the most of  fish while here, and of course my now favourite fruit mangos!

An end to a wonderful Maori Experience!!!!

First day in Auckland 6/1/2011

We had no idea what we would be doing today, so we started walking towards the Harbour.  The weather was a bit overcast so we were worried about a Ferry ride; never the less we did one over to Devonport where we got a mini tour bus which took us first to North Head  then to Mt Victoria where there are  spectacular views of Auckland. 

We then  strolled along the beaches and shopping area before getting the Ferry back to Auckland.

At this point we thought to go to the Sky Tower and noticed that there was a free City Circle bus, not knowing where it would take us we jumped on, and it took us right to our destination, now that’s what I call lucky! The first thing we saw were the brave or should I say crazy people bungee jumping from off the top of the tower which is 192 metre jump! No we didn’t do it!!!!!

We did take the elevator to the very top for seeing Auckland from the highest point of view possible.

Up there we were able to watch the jumpers, also the other crazy people who walked around the perimeter without any railings just holding onto the safety cable! No we didn't do it!!!!!!

The weather turned out to be very nice in fact once again I caught to much sun on my chest which I didn’t think needed sun protection today.

We found a supermarket and bought oysters and prawns and a nice bottle of New Zealand wine for our evening meal.

Now it’s to decided on what to do tomorrow.  I’ll put cream on before going out!

Arrival in New Zealand 5/1/2011

New York or New Zealand we are always the last drop off with the Shuttle Bus!

We have lost a day, it has been spent travelling. 

We got to the airport early, Sue took us when she went to work, it’s amazing just how quickly the time passed to boarding the flight.  The flight went well, it seemed to pass so quickly, 2½ hours when we have been doing an 11 hour flight is like a bus ride HA!

New Zealand is 2 hours ahead of Australia so it was 9.30 pm when we checked into the hotel.

It is quite windy but not cold hopefully tomorrow the weather will be good for us to start our visit in Auckland.

End of part one Sydney! 4/1/2011

I can’t believe that the first half of our Sydney stay has come to an end. 

Today we just stayed in the area where Suzie lives.  No beach as the weather was cloudy and a bit chilly.  We did a walk along the seafront morning and afternoon, we even found a cannon.

I had to pack the suitcase for our trip to New Zealand, a job I really dislike.

Pino made a lasagne for our evening meal, today it is Suzie’s birthday, we had a nice bottle of spumante to go with it.

Bollicine! Bollicine!

A Day in the City. 3/1/2011

Today we took the train into the city. 

First stop was to visit the Hyde Park Barracks Museum – Convict Sydney.  This is where all the British convicts were sent between 1819 and 1848. 

We tried out the convict hammock and I even looked up to see if any Cowards had been sent over, there was just one! It was very interesting, I love to see all the personal belongings that have been found from that epoca.

After it was a walk to the Sydney Opera House, we had only seen it from the ferry up until today. 

 

Then it was onto The Rocks where they say Sydney began, now a famous shopping area.  We were very lucky as today was a holiday here and the week-end market was open.  We bought some warm macadamia nuts, plain, chilly and honey coated yummy!!!!

We found a lovely bar where they were cooking extra long sausages on a BBQ served up in a long French roll with caramelised onions and cheese, now that’s what I call a hotdog! You will all have gathered by now that we are not going hungry!!!!!!!



We had hoped to do the walk over the harbour bridge but it started rain so we made our way home.  We will try do that when we return from New Zealand.