Friday, December 15th
Great Ponsonby B&B, Auckland, New Zealand

Kia ora! That's hello from New Zealand. We're winding down after a fairly busy day, which started far, far too early in the skies over the Pacific as our overnight flight descended into Auckland International. Yesterday was our last day in Hawaii, and we took our last opportunity for really hot weather to go to the beach in Kailua for some ocean time. Then off to the airport, and now here we are!

At the Auckland airport we were met by the B&B's driver "Uncle", who drove us in through moderate traffic to the Ponsonby area, just west of the downtown core. The English heritage of Auckland was immediately apparent. Besides the blindingly obvious driving on the left side of the road, there were the more subtle touches: the cut stone curbs, the English-style road signs, the smaller cars, the narrow sidewalks and fenced-in front gardens, and the warm-climate cottage-styled houses. At the B&B we were given a quick welcome and orientation, and we were able to dump our luggage and have a very necessary warm shower before heading out for the day.

First order of business was getting Anne some comfortable sandals, which had proven an astonishingly difficult task in Hawaii. We walked downtown, about a half hour from Ponsonby, and before long we'd found a store with some solid but stylish Birkenstocks which suited the need. By then, it was lunch time, so we stopped in a little side alley for a wonderful cafe lunch. I had an absolutely delicious cajun fish burger.

Then we strolled back down the hill to the Britomart Transit Centre, where we picked up a bus out along the eastern harbour road. This took us to a wonderful unique Auckland museum, Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World and Antarctic Experience. There we got our first close encounters with penguins, who waddled through a carefully climate-controlled snow and ice habitat, and swam with amazing speed through the cold waters. We also went through Tarlton's aquarium, which is built up around a long clear acrylic tunnel, so that the sharks, rays, turtles and fish swim all around you as you go through. Short, but sweet.

By the time we made it back to the B&B we were pretty wiped out, and we had a couple of hours of recouperation time before heading out for dinner on Ponsonby street, which is soft of a Queen Street West kind of area, with lots of interesting shops, cafes, restaurants and bars. We picked a Belgian beer garden and had some immense local mussels accompanied by a massive basket of french fries and mayonnaise.

Tomorrow, weather permitting, we're headed to Waiheke Island, one of the gulf islands nearby. It's a 45-minute ferry ride from downtown Auckland, and boasts of 18 wineries and some lovely hiking.
posted by Tom at 2:19 AM | link |