doddling around: Exploring Auckland

Breakfast

We wandered from our hotel and started exploring, without much purpose. Our hotel is super convenient. We walked up and down Princes Wharf and Queens Wharf, eventually stopping for brunch at Nando's when they opened at 10:30. This was on Mike's to-do list.

Nando's

Supremo Burger and 5 Churrasco BBQ Thigh Pieces

Hop On

After eating, we went to one of the i-Sites to buy tickets for the hop-on-hop-off. It actually starts/stops less than a block from our hotel!

Volcano! Rangitoto Island only emerged from the ocean 600 years ago.

Bastion Point Lookout

Kelly Tarlton's Sea Life

The second stop was the aquarium, so we hopped off and hung out there for an hour. We actually could have spent hours there, but the bus stops running at 5, so our time was limited.

There was a replica of Robert Falcon Scott's Antarctic hut at Cape Evan, which has been there since 1911.

Scott conducted research and the team also had a printing press and a dark room. Team members would write articles for the "South Polar Times" to amuse each other.

King penguins

A few of them just like lying down?

To keep the colony clean, they go to the edge of the waddle to relieve themselves.

Architeuthis dux (photo for Cat)

Mike, standing on a people mover that goes in a big circle

All one color

Dark purple

Slow color change

See that green spreading up? So cool!

Hop Back On

Holy Trinity Cathedral

Auckland Museum

We got to the museum at 1:30 and only had 2 hours until the last bus, so we had a light lunch in the cafe and zipped through. This was definitely a shame because it was a great museum and we could have spent a full day there, easily.

Citi pereunt et imputantur. Swiftly they pass and are reckoned.
Aviation pioneer, George Bolt, made this in his spare time.

The Wild Child exhibit was about growing up in New Zealand with so much wilderness around and the prevailing adult thinking that children needed to be tamed and controlled.

Similarities in the Polynesian languages now.

Moana's boat?

Boats, boats, boats!

Frogs here don't go through the tadpole phase. They hatch looking and acting like frogs but with little tails.

Mike and a moa

Hop On Again

Eden Park Stadium, where the All Blacks play

Auckland Zoo

MOTAT - Museum of Transport and Technology

Striking out for dinner

As the sun was setting, we set out again, but headed west this time, crossing the Te Wero Bridge into Wynyard Quarter for dinner. The area was super trendy. Auckland is lively as. There were people eating, drinking, and just happily wandering all over the place; couples, families, big and small groups. We read a few menus and chose Jack Tar for dinner and got a table outside because it was such a nice evening; the nicest kind of chilly.

After dinner, Mike bought me gelato at Gelatiamo. The best gelato I've ever had. There was absolutely nothing wrong with it. Soft, but not watery or melty; creamy, not sticky; smooth, no ice; the texture and details had all been perfected so all I had to think about was the rich wonderful flavor.

Our walk back was, of course, staccatoed with my photo stops. It was such a pleasant city night with crowds laughing from patios in every direction. It felt like those first few days in Autumn when everyone is desperately grasping for the last bits of Summer. That's exactly what this is for the locals. In a couple days, we'll be home and it will feel the the beginning of Summer. Weird.