With more boats per capita than any other city in the world, Auckland is appropriately known as the city of Sails. It is also one of the cleanest and most peaceful and the main city in New Zealand. The British bought the 3,ooo acres that is now Auckland from the Maoris for $110. It was named for the Earl of Auckland, the Viceroy of India. Although Auckland is no longer the capital, it flourishes with more than 1 million residents, and has always attracted the bulk of New Zealand’s population. Spanning a narrow isthmus, it separates two seas – the Pacific Ocean to the east and the Tasman Sea to the west.
We had a great day today, actually they have all been great, but Auckland is a lovely, bustling, cosmopolitan city that is very special. For a sailor like Gary, it's heaven. There are sailboats everywhere. They have an extensive maritime museum that we have visited before and found it to be wonderful. We spent our time walking around the city center and along the waterfront. The waterfront is a very trendy area with several outdoor cafes complete with white linen tablecloths. We took a ferry to a quaint little town called “Devon Port.” Got a lovely view of Auckland from the boat (which we missed this morning as we arrived very early), and spent a couple of hours there.
We will be leaving here at 10:00 tonight and will have dinner in town. Our beautiful little ship is docked next to the new Queen Elizabeth, which is approximately 4-5 times larger and is just magnificent. After walking about 12 miles today, we got back to the ship at 6:00, changed clothes and went back out to keep a 7:00 dinner reservation at “Wildfire,” one of the waterfront restaurants. It was a Brazilian barbecue (as if we needed more food), but we had a lot of fun and the view was awesome. We are now back in our room, it’s 9:40 and we are waiting to depart Auckland for Sydney. It is really something when we leave a big city port like Auckland, the lights of the city are stunning and the view is breathtaking.
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