Awesome Auckland

Breakfast

We were up and out by 9 am because we were determined to catch the 10:30 harbour cruise. Between the hotel and buying cruise tickets, we saw The Crew Club opening up for brunch, so that's where we decided to go. It looks plain from the front; we weren't expecting much, just brunch, like their menu says. As the hostess walked us through the restaurant, we figured it was empty because they had just opened. Then we emerged on the back patio that is right on the marina, between Hobson Wharf (which is mainly the Maritime Museum) and Princes Wharf (as Mike just learned today, not "Princess Wharf" or "Prince's Wharf"). There are two neat Maori boats associated with the museum that sail by the sky and have no navigational gear onboard. It was fun to have brunch and watch some folks on one of them learning about the boat's rigging.

Breakfast view

This is how to tie the sails

This is how to raise the sails

Two middle aged couples in a row boat showed up, walked up to the restaurant's patio fence, and jumped it. Passing our table, we said good morning and one of the guys chuckled and said "The lengths we'll go to for coffee, eh?" The waiter was amused, too. They had their coffees and hopped the fence back to their rowboat.

Wild mushrooms on sourdough

The Full Crew

The Lazy Amigo - Herradura Plata, port, coffee, orange, nutmeg, vanilla, muscovado + sugar cane shrub. Housemade shrubs (drinking vinegars) are the tart sweet theme of their cocktails. I always thought the theme was alcohol.

I highly recommend eating here for the view. We later learn that the museum fires an old cannon here at noon.

Harbour Cruise

We booked the Harbour Cruise with Fullers, rather than finding a small or boutique option and I'm glad we did. It was cheaper this way, and it was a lovely 90 minutes on the water. Tip: Be just a bit early to line up so you can get a good seat -- the starboard side is where all the things are to see. We lucked out getting the front right seats on the top (uncovered) deck. Another tip: If you're sitting up top, bring a jacket for the wind and maybe a hat for the sun.

Front and starboard of the top deck

Captain Tour Guide

Or captain/guide was fun. It was only him, and two others crewing the vessel of 70-odd passengers. The speakers are great, so even outside it was really clear what he was saying, and boats/pedestrians nearby could hear, too. At one point, we passed a tugboat and the captain told us all about how awesome they are and how they can spin on a dime. The tugboat then demonstrated and we could see the guys on there laughing and waving.

The Lighthouse, an art piece that irritates locals because of the cost, but still acknowledged to be very pretty at night.

Spinning tugboat -- equipped with two screw-type propellors that enable them to maneuver like this.

The grassy park is Bastion Point, which was taken from the Ngati Whatua tribe for military defense with the promise of returning it, but then gifted it to the city council, then prepared to sell to the highest bidder, at which point there was a 507 day occupation and the land was finally given back to the tribe. The Ngati Whatua decided to turn it into a public park.

Bean Rock Lighthouse

Rangitoto Island, a symmetrical shield volcano

We stopped for a very brief few minutes at Rangitoto Island, which is just long enough to disembark, walk to the end of the wharf, stand on volcanic rock, and get back on. Mike and I stayed onboard because I refused to give up my perfect seat.

Rangitoto is Maori for "bloody sky" which references eruptions within historical memory for the local Maori tribes. The island became popular for day-trips and in the 20s, more than a hundred holiday homes ("baches") were built on the shore but the government got annoyed that they were all illegally built and tore down most of them, and then declared the island a reserve and wildlife sanctuary. There is still no running water or electricity on the island, and it's deemed pest-free, which they take very seriously in New Zealand.

Me and my bee

After our stop at Rangitoto, a bee started pollinating me. It wouldn't let go and it was freaking Mike out. Eventually, I got fed up with it and pulled it off with my camera wrist-strap. I'm concerned that a Rangitoto bee is now lost in Auckland, cursed to wander alone, separated from his family. I hope that he finds his way home or he meets a nice Auckland bee hive. Mike says he's sure the bee got to Rangitoto on the ferry in the first place.

Auckland skyline

Auckland Harbour Bridge

Lazy bee takes the ferry

The 1935 William C Daldy, in all her restored glory. She saved the day(s) in 1958 when high winds disrupted construction of the Harbour Bridge. The 1200-ton prefab center span was supposed to be floated into place very carefully but it started blowing away and was going up the harbour. The contractor's tugboats couldn't keep it under control, so the Daldy came to the rescue, pulling for 36 hours and burning 40 tons of coal.

The 1925 Rapaki, one of two steam cranes left in NZ, is now a breakwater for the Maritime Museum's marina.

The Maritime Museum's noontime canon firing was right outside of our breakfast spot, and you can see the second Maori vessel on the right of the video -- the red boat with canvas sails tied up.

The Hilton takes up the entire end of Princes Wharf and was designed to look like a cruise ship. This is the very tippy end where you can see their pool, tucked between the main buildings, with a view of Sky Tower.

Looped back around to the end. On the left is the 1912 Ferry Terminal (the brick building in the photo).

Hello Kiwi

We walked to the Hello Kitty Store hoping for some New Zealand-specific gifts, like they have in Hawaii, but they didn't have anything special (except the store's banner).

MOTAT

We took the #30 bus to the Museum of Transportation and Technology (MOTAT). It was full of fascinating information and very kid-friendly.

This was an actual working Mercury Arc Rectifier powering the trams at MOTAT.

Mike seemed to really enjoy playing with the mechanical exhibits, but I was most interested in the exhibit about Sir Edmund Hillary's expedition to the South Pole.

One of Hillary's three Ferguson tractors

A cutaway example of the "Hillary bunk" system which conserved space but gave each person some privacy. You get your desk and bunk, and there's a wall between yours and the next guy's space.

MOTAT is huge. We spent 2 hours there and could have done a few more to see the village and MOTAT 2, where all the aviation stuff is, but we were ready to call it a day and I wanted to be super early to SkyCity. We took the #195 bus back into the CBD.

Sky Tower at SkyCity

Admission to the tower gets you access to roam the cafe/bar on the 50th floor (182 metres, 597 feet), the main observation deck on the 51st floor (186 metres, 610 feet), and the Sky Deck on the 60th floor (220 metres, 722 feet). It was built to withstand a magnitude 8.0 earthquake centered within 20 km. The view is as incredible as you expect. We timed our visit to be early for sunset (to avoid any sunset-chasing crowds) so I could stake my claim on the best window, but there didn't seem to be any sunset-crazed tourists besides me. We stood in my window for more than half an hour. Mike was not just his patient self, he was also playing with his GoPro, so I think it was a successful sunset stakeout. Well, except for the fact that the sun set behind a ton of clouds that showed up in the last 20 minutes.

This glass floor is 38 mm thick.

For $145 you can walk around the building like these people. Yes, it's 192 m up, but it's $145.

The Auckland Museum that we went to yesterday is the big white building, on the right, on that green hill.

We stayed a bit longer to get photos of the nightscape, too. In all, we spent an hour and a half up there. Mike could have been done after 30 minutes.

Moon over Rangitoto

The 2-yo we road down with was hilarious. At the end of the video, his dad points at the sign and says "don't touch" and the kid says "touch touch" while he pats the sign and the dad is like "eh?!?! it's written!"

Finding Dinner

We walked back toward the hotel and passed a few interesting sights, including the building for the Tepid Baths that we can see the roof of from the hotel.

Tepid Baths

Dinner and Reflections

We picked The Original for dinner. It's just a few doors from the hotel, and the menu out front looked good. The place has a party room that's behind two paintings on a segment of wall that swivels like a Scooby-Doo cartoon. I wish I had taken a photo of that.

Center: Manuka Ginger Fix -- 42 Below Manuka honey, lime, Angostura bitters, mint, ginger beer
Right: Mac's Cloudy Apple Cider

Lamb ribs, pumpkin puree, lamb sauce, pickled onion

The Original Cheeseburger

We ate on the patio and just reflected on the trip. This was the longest vacation we've taken together, and sharing all new experiences in a country that neither of us has ever been to was really special. Completing the Queen Charlotte Track was the best part for both of us, even though it was rough in parts.

Tomorrow we pack up and fly home.