Our visit to Auckland was very bittersweet because more than 500 kiwis left the ship including many that we have become very close to - including Anthea, Dennis, Ray, and Paula - our wonderful table companions.
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| Loved this animation screen from mickey mouse to Tiki Tu Meke |
The stopover in Auckland was very short ... we arrived at 7.00am and left at 2.00pm. We expected cold weather ... and weren’t disappointed ..... we have been to Auckland many times before ... so we decided to join up with Carol and Randy to take a trip out to Kelly Tarlton’s .... an underwater aquarium .... we were most interested in the Antarctic Encounter ..... with a sub-Antarctic penguin colony.
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| Free shuttle |
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| Great perspective on the position of Antarctica |
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| This sign at the door tickled my funny bone - I thought we were going to see animals??? |
A reconstruction of the Scott’s base and hut in Antarctica was very interesting, with all sorts of memorabilia from the expedition. A large relief map of Antarctica on the wall gives a great perspective view of the its position relative to South America, Australia and New Zealand.
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| Scott's hut and research centre |
We climbed into snowmobiles for our trip around the penguin enclosure .... there are over 80 in the colony and we took a slow ride over the snow through the colony as they preened in their social groups ....some were sitting on eggs and a few newly hatched chicks surveyed all from their special enclosure.
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| Nesting |
The other parts of the Underwater World had displays of stingrays, sharks, tropical fish and amazing sea horses. We have been to similar more modern aquariums in Sydney and Mooloolaba in Australia .... they have a much greater variety of species ... but we hadn’t been this close to penguins before ... and we loved them.
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| Inside the play centre for children - climb in - I won't bite!! |
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| 11 metres tentacles on a giant squid |
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| Beautiful corals |
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| Everyone loves Nemo |
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| Amazing sea horses |
Returning to downtownAuckland, we had a short time to do some shopping and return to the ship. The rugby world cup starts next weekend in New Zealand with matches over the next seven weeks, so there was a great festive atmosphere as the kiwis prepare to welcome the rest of the world. One t-shirt that we saw said ‘We support New Zealand and every team that is playing Australia’ .... there is that friendly rivalry again!!
Once again, we congregated on the back deck ... and watched one of the tugboats entertaining the passengers by spinning in circles behind the ship. Auckland is known as ‘the city of sails’ .... there were a lot of sailboats out on the harbour on this Sunday afternoon, as we made our way down the harbour. We passed by Davenport wharf, where Ray and Paula were frantically waving as we sailed by .... and later I received a text from Anthea as we sailed northward along the coast as they could see the Dawn Princess from their home. We miss them already at dinner .. and there are so many new faces around the ship as about 500 new passengers embarked in Auckland ... some just doing the two day trip to Sydney ... while others are doing the 28 day circumnavigation of Australia.
We are now heading due west towards Sydney where most will disembark on Wednesday.
Note to future cruisers: If you want to do the penguin encounter at Kelly Tarlton’s www.kellytarlton.co.nz, there is a free shuttle bus to the site which leaves from across the road from the ferry terminal ... only a five to ten minute walk from the ship - it leaves every hour - on the hour and returns at 10 minutes to each hour. The entrance cost is $34NZ for adults, cheaper for over 65’s, with 10% discount if you book online beforehand. There is also a free shuttle which takes you round downtown Auckland.
Cheers
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