Northland Getaway

We're off to Northland for what I thought was going to be a beach holiday. Unfortunately, the weather didn't make for great beach time, so had lots of little (or long) road trip adventures instead.

We flew into Auckland on Sunday evening. It was very quiet and we struggled to find a restaurant that was open for dinner!! Either they are usually closed on Sundays or they were closed for the Christmas break! So we went for a wander down by the harbour - we found a few places open but the wait time was about an hour. We eventually stumbled upon on a Mexican restaurant that was really nice!! The food was really fresh and tasty!

Our Auckland hotel was a bit disappointing - I was expecting a little bit of luxury, but it was just adequate. Nothing wrong in particular - just not much thought had gone into the decor, it would be perfectly good for a business person for a short stay. Anyway - we weren't there for long so it didn't matter at all! The breakfast was great tho!! We had a feast that was big enough for lunch too!

We had a small hiccup with the hire car. I waited at the hotel with the bags while Reid collected the car - he came back with an old bomb! So back to the hire car place to swap it out for the correct model! They were so disorganised. Apparently a number of people's bookings were mucked up!!

Road side stop to get a pic of the pohutukawa in bloom.



Then off to the Kauri Museum. It was a great stop and worth the detour!! They had lots of exhibits about how the Kauri was logged - chopped down, transported, milled, used, etc, plus lots of nice pieces of furniture.

View from the Matakohe (location of the Kauri Museum)



Post office at Matakohe



Picture from inside the Kauri Museum

Auckland airport

We arrived in Auckland at 11.25am.

A lady took Reid's suitcase by mistake - to be fair, hers did look exactly like ours, but hers was a bit larger and ours has a bright yellow tie on the top.

The baggage people found her mobile number and left her a pleasant voicemail, followed by a second more terse voicemail. Within about 20mins we had $18 worth of complimentary refreshment vouchers and Reid's bag returned. The lady came huffing back very distressed about taking the wrong bag!! Whoops!

For a flight to the US you have to be at the gate an hour and a half before take off so we decided to check in and wait at the airport.

Here is Reid at our nest:





See bottle of vino and large fries. They were followed by rashuns and a chocolate bar

It's now 4.10, we've been through the second security screening check point and are waiting in the departure lounge! Only 1 hour to go!

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aucklanders against scientology

we were walking up Queen Street, central Auckland, and came across a group all dressed up in costumes, including masks.

They were protesting against the church of scientology members who were handing out DVDs on the street!

good on them for getting out there and doing something about the crazies!!

I think they were part of Operation Clambake

Here's a copy of the pamphlet they were handing out:

Auckland

had a great time in Auckland, it was so quiet and easy going and made for a very relaxing break :)
I was pretty surprised at how quiet it was, I was expecting big city hustle and bustle, lots of people all racing around with plenty to do! Instead there was no one around - the main street of the CBD was practically empty until about 3pm on Saturday afternoon. We ate brunch at the Viaduct Basin where there were several restaurants and cafe's with only a few customers each.

I was also really surprised at how warm it was - it was definitely warmer than in Melbourne, we didn't need to wear a coat, even at night time. I think the difference between Auckland and Melbourne is the overnight low - in Auckland it didn't get nearly as cold as Melbourne so first thing in the morning it wasn't so cold and it only got warmer during the day!

A couple of other things we noticed:

• everyone pays by EFTPOS for everything! even a $3 coffee or a round of drinks at the bar!
  
• the dairy or corner store is called a superette
• (Reid thought) everywhere smelt like pee
• the harbour bridge was smaller than expected
• giving way to the right is really annoying! It means that there are several phases of lights at every intersection - turning cars, then straight ahead cars, then turning cars, then straight ahead cars on the second road, and somewhere in there pedestrians get to cross. I'm sure if we had been there longer we would have worked out the pattern, but I felt like we spent a LOT of time waiting at the lights!
• Cars don't give way to pedestrians. In Australia if a car is turning into a side street, approaching an intersection, or pulling out of a driveway/car park they give way to pedestrians - in New Zealand if you are on foot WATCH OUT!

Here are some pics


Warning at Auckland Wharf


Beer and Wine at the Occidental Bar Vulcan Lane


Deb @ the Domain


Winter Garden @ the Domain


Reid outside a Marae at the Auckland Museum


Auckland Museum


Reid & Deb at Orbit Restaurant - Sky Tower
The Orbit restaurant rotates at the top of the Auckland Sky tower. We had a really clear night so had a great view!!


Sky Tower Auckland


View from Sky Tower Auckland


View down from Sky Tower lift


Reid & sting ray at Kelly Tarltons
I was a bit disappointed with Kelly Tarltons - the penguins didn't have much room for swimming or wandering about!


Penguins at Kelly Tarltons


More penguins at Kelly Tarltons


Star fist at Kelly Tarltons


star fish at Kelly Tarltons


Funny fish at Kelly Tarltons


Pub in Auckland

rugby

Reid and I popped over to Auckland for the recent All Blacks v England rugby game!

The trip was great - a nice long 4 day weekend, a great game of rugby, nice warm weather (for winter).

There was a free bus from the CBD to Eden Park. Then after the game there were heaps of free buses ready and waiting to take us back to the CBD! Very well organised!

Here are some pics from the game!


Reid @ Eden Park


Pre game entertainment


Me with a hotdog!!!


Kick off


Packed terraces!


A scrum (random pic)