Auckland, New Zealand.
We arrived after another delayed Jetstar flight from Sydney to Auckland. We were very exhausted after the day of flights with an extended wait between flights and another delay at Sydney International Airport.
The passage from landing to Immigation and then Customs and finally an X-ray of all luggage took almost an hour. We then exited and found our driver and he had parked just beside the entrance. It had been an extremely wet and cold Winter’s day and evening, with regular heavy showers of hail.
We arrived at our Hotel / Apartment at 2.35am and there was no answer , but our driver telephoned and there was a person as Night Reception Manager. She came down checked us in and we were unpacking at 2.55am after an extremely long day.
Morning came around quite quickly, after we slept soundly. Ken got up at 9.05am , ie with sleep of almost 6 hours, not enough but he was awake and decided he had enough sleep for now, and showered and dressed.
Jeanette then awoke at 9.20 am, decided to stay in bed nodding off before rising after 10.00am. Ken then went to breakfast downstairs in the reception / shop / cafe area and enjoyed a healthy continental breakfast and brought the same back for Jeanette.
So we arrived, climbed into Bed , slept soundly and woke to another day of patches of sunlight with heavy intermittent showers and an icy wind blowing from the South west.
Our Hotel / Apartment at SWISS BEL Suites Victoria Park Auckland
The Suite 801 is a two bedroom apartment overlooking The Sky Tower. It is very comfortable with the kitchen fully equipped, the bedrooms with goos King size beds and the Bathroom is well fitted with both Dryer and Washes in a cupboard for our use. All fittings and appliances are relatively new. the soft furnishings are also apparently new. We are very pleased.
We spend the morning catching up, relaxing and plan to have a good lunch and then a lighter meal in here this evening.
Ken suggests that there are 2 recommended pubs with good luncheon menus, about 300 metres down the road. This is also in the general direction of the Supermarket.
We enjoy Fish and Chips for lunch as well as Onion rings together with a beer and pineapple juice .The Dice and Fork was a small NZ pub with an interesting selection of meals and it also obviously has an active games clientele with one wall having shelves fulll of Boeard games. We choose to eat here rather than the more Tradiotnal and more upmarket Bird Cage Hotel.
It was a wise decision. Our meal was enjoyable and then we walked some 30o metres to the New World Grocery Store and Supermarket and purchased supplies for the next 2 days. Jeanette was very impressed as to the Supermarket and its range of items and thought the proces were broadly comparable to our Supermaqrkets in Glen Waverley and Wheelers Hill.
Our return was in beautiful sunshine, we still hadn’t withdrawn NZ$ from an ATM and Ken was advised that the closest ATM was at the Star Tower and Star Casino.
He took the opportunity to visit the Star Tower and went to the top for sensational views. It is several years since We or He had undertaken a visit to the top . He enjoyed it very much and the horrible weather had cleared to a lovely fresh afternoon with large,y clear blue skies, although further rain in anticipated to come in later. He walked from our Suite/ Apartment to Sky Tower up quite a stiff climb and hill. visited the Star Tower , took some photos and videos, then visited Star Casino, withdrew some NZ$ and enjoyed himself.
From here the following photos reflect his time at The Sky tower, where he enjoyed an excellent time.
Auckland is a middle size city based around the basin and the city continues to grow , albeit slowly.
Beautiful Auckland Harbour from Sky Tour. Simply awesome.
Ken walked back and stoped off at the EmpireV hotel and watched the last 20 minutes of The World Cup Match between Phillipines and New Zealand. The Empire hotel was packed with one bar area and lounge set aside for the Press and the other lounge was available to watch on large screens. Unfortunately the results ended at Phillipines 1- New Zealand -0 and this would be seen as a very disappointing result.
A Landmark Auckland Hotel , was a great place for a Beer and to watch the Ladiers Soccer at the World Cup.
Jeanette commented that Eileen would have had a difficult day to come to Auckland to meet with us given the extreme weather, so perhaps the best result although disappointing for Jeanette and Eileen.
Dinner tonight, following our big lunch is tomatoe soup and bread rolls , followed by an ice-cream and a coffee.
We will both be in bed early this evening , we are still very tired after the travels of yesterday and early this morning.
Wednesday Wet and wild with Hail and Heavy Rainfall through out the Day
We woke to a wet and windy day with a change coming through with heavy, continuous rainfall. Our plans for the day were diminished and we found it totally impractical to go down to the harbour and the viaduct area for lunch.
So we spend the time finalising our plans for tomorrow and delay a suggestion re dinner.
Unfortunately these photos depict just how wet and cold it is. It is a stark difference to our time in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Unfortunately, this weather continued for most of the morning and until about 3.00pm.
We decided to eat in and not to trust the weather, although this required Ken to walk the 300 metres to the Supermarket. It improved slightly but the ever likely presence of heavy showers meant that Ken had to hurry to the Supermarket and get back to Swiss Bel Suites prior to the next shower of rain or hail.
Jeanette made up an enjoyable meal, we (Ken) enjoyed the remnants of a good wine. The rain continued less frequently with a promise of a much improved day tomorrow for our departure and flight from Auckland to Queenstown.
Into bed at 9.45pm , woke at 7.15am to a stunning morning. We packed most of our gear before an enjoyable continental breakfast.
We did enjoy the little time we had where we were able to get out. However, realistically we cannot control the weather and in winter it is a risk.
Thursday in Beautiful Auckland with almost a full day of incessant heavy rainfall and hail with intermittent thunder and lightning. too wet to do anything!!
So we come to our morning in Auckland and prepare to fly to Queenstown.
A superb morning. We have enjoyed our accommodation here at Swiss-Bel suites, Auckland.
So just to ensure that we appreciated the uncertainty of the weather, we are experiencing a sun shower.
Enough is enough we move on to Queenstown and the final leg of this outstanding holiday.