World Cruise - Day 37 - Feb 18 - Auckland, New Zealand

This is breaking with tradition, but I am going to start my blog entry today with pics from yesterday when we were in Bay of Islands.  These are additional dolphin photos I got as we left last night:

I like how you can see the blow hole clearly.  The dolphin was almost directly below our balcony.

I took about 100 dolphin photos last night.  Most ended up just being a splash, nothing else.  It’s tough to get them coming out of the water.

I kept the camera on sport mode and pointed in the general direction where I thought they would surface and jump.  Every once in awhile I got lucky.

We arrived in Auckland, New Zealand this morning and were greeted by this amazing sunrise:

I love how the light is pouring out to the right literally basking the island with light.  A few minutes later it evolved into this shot:

I always like to see the reflection of the sunrise on the water, but often am not able to catch it.  This one worked out well.

Auckland’s downtown started coming into view as we came around the last island in the bay:

Very impressive cityscape:

Krissie and I did a Bible study and a video sermon by Gary Antion on Faith, Hope and Charity.  We decided to see some of Auckland the rest of the day, so rented bikes down by the ship for a leisurely ride along Auckland’s beautiful waterfront.  Following are some of our photos along the way.

We have been surprised by the prices in New Zealand.  Brandon and I had a general rule when we were in Europe to never pay more than 1 Euro (about $1.30) for a scoop of gelato.  OK, we did pay more, but only in Vienna, where a scoop of gelato could not be purchased for under 1.20 Euro.  Anyway, you can see the sign above, it is $10 for a scoop of gelato.  So yes, it is New Zealand dollars, but it’s still about $8.30 US for a single scoop of gelato?  Really?  Lots of things are prices high here, not sure how people survive.  It seems like most things are about double USD, even though the exchange rate is $1 USD = $1.20 NZD.

As we rode along the beach, we saw this guy who had been fishing from his kayak onshore cleaning his catch.  Looks like Red Snapper.  There are some seagulls nearby waiting for the remnants.  A guy up on the pier asked him if he wanted the eyes and he said no, that he was welcome to them.  Yuck.

I thought this was a cute shot of a little guy getting slathered with sunscreen.  The weather was wonderful today, in the high 70s.

This tree was growing out of the side of a cliff about 30-40 above the ground (you can see the beach down below in the distance).

There was a beautiful lookout when we got at the far end of the bike trail.

Auckland downtown is somewhere over my right shoulder through the trees.  I know that Brandon doesn’t like my “Lawrence of Arabia” hat, but it’s pretty functional and is keeping the sun off my face and shoulders, even when wearing a biking helmet.

We stopped at Mission Bay and had some Belgian beer.  Krissie had one made by Trappist monks and I had a Belgian NA amber beer that was quite good.  Combined with New Zealand cheeses, it was a great stop along the way.

I caught this photo of a Dad reaching out to his daughter while walking in the sand through the trees.

Auckland in the background.

We came upon a cricket game being played by middle school-aged boys.  That is the bowler (pitcher) with his arm up in the air as he is sending the ball to the batsman.

Coca Cola had this setup in a park where you could do a flying leap into a big pad, then they would convert it into a video that makes it look like you land in water with a big splash.  Part of their “Jump Into Summer” promotion here in New Zealand (remember, it’s summer here).  So if you want to see the video of me and what it looks like, go to www.coke.co.nz, then enter my Coke Summer Jump Number: 6014.  Let me know what you think of it.

I love this photo of the local fountain and the boy splashing his little sister and the boy on the inside of the fountain.  Great summer fun.

Back downtown, I found this sweet Lamborghini and had Krissie take a pic of me next to it for Brandon.

Sky Tower is Auckland’s iconic towner in the center of the city.  It is over 1,000 feet tall (1,076 to be exact).  Krissie looks almost as tall as half the tower?

Couldn’t resist getting a pic of this guy at a nearby pub getting a drink.  Rock on.

So those are my feet and that is looking straight down from the observation level of Sky Tower through the glass.  Notice the target just above my right shoe.  They do a jump from the Sky Tower (called “Sky Jump”) that is a controlled free fall that ends at that target.

I think this is looking east.  Our ship is there in the harbor.

This one is looking more toward the north.  Notice the helipad on the building bottom right.

This is looking out toward Harbour Bridge, more northeast.

The next four photos are of someone getting ready to do a Sky Jump from Sky Tower.  We were just above on the Sky Deck (highest observation deck).

All strapped in, now getting psyched for the jump.

Toes over the edge, ready to go.

I got the person just as s/he left the platform.

These people are doing a “Sky Walk” where they all get harnessed in, then walk a walkway with no bars/sides (look to the left side of the photo, that’s where they walked next, past that gate).

This is the view of the elevator shaft on the way down.  Note that my feet are on the glass, Krissie was straddling it.

This is the Auckland City Art Museum.  I was taken by the beautiful wood canopy at the entrance, along with the huge flowers inside the atrium.

Later in the day, we took a ferry over to Devonport.

View of boats through an archway in Devonport.

There was a wine and food festival going on at a beach park in Devonport.

We ate dinner in open seating this evening, since the ship is in port until 11p.  We sat with a gentleman who is traveling alone and has no family.  He is an only child and both of his parents are only children as well.  And he’s never been married.  He began working in the computer industry in 1956 on an IBM 701 (this is back even before the IBM 360, so pre mainframes).  Very interesting discussion.  This is his fourth world cruise segment in four years.  He has not done the world cruise, but has done four different segments of different world cruises.  They don’t knit together into a world cruise, but close.  For dessert, I had a pineapple flambé, which was being prepared by Eugenio near our table:

Tomorrow is sea day #1 of 5 on our way to Burnie, Tasmania.  However, along the way we will be cruising through scenic Fiordland National Park (like Alaskan cruises with similar glaciers and wildlife)