ToAucklandNov 8, 2005
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Captions Later
Paihia to Auckland - 273 KM - 11/8/05
The Tour finally got it's parade rained on, but thankfully it waited til the very last day. We had showers during the final preparations to depart the Caravan Park, and then the rain started in earnest as we started driving. Where we had loaded the Catamaran for our tour yesterday the waiting line was standing in pouring rain. The rain continued for the first hour of the drive, but the roads were crooked enough that it didn't hamper driving speeds. The only loss was that we did not do the optional side trip to Wangari Falls as it was still raining when we passed that point.
By the time we arrived in Auckland the rain had gone away and been replaced by broken clouds and a cool wind. The Maui turn-in was uneventful. Since we had full insurance coverage the only thing they were interested in was that the toilet canisters had been dumped. Our bus pickup was the only minor glitch of the day. The tour members had more suitcases than the bus compartments would hold. One of the Maui employees had to take some of it to the hotel in their car. Bus driver said he had never had that happen before. Obviously hadn't run into SuperShopper Barbara and the extra suitcases plus Billy's DigeriDoo before.
Before going to our hotel we were scheduled to visit Aucklands SkyTower, the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere. Seemed like we went through every narrow street in the industrial part of town on the way, but eventually we were there. Blessed again by the weather with views of 50 + miles but a few too many clouds for good photos. The Kiwi's thrive on "extreme sports" and the tower has a cable jump from the top to a landing target at the base. This one is pretty tame as the jumper is in a seat that is on a wire strung between two steel cables, plus has a third cable in the center that controls rate of descent. Missed the only jumper that came by while we were there. There is a view of some 70 old & new volcano sites from the tower. A dozen or so are pretty obvious, but many of the hopefully extinct ones have been flattened to make space to accomodate Aucklands booming growth. 1.3 million of NZ's 4.1 million people live here.
