AucklandNov 9, 2005
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Captions Later
Auckland - 11/9/05
Our last touring day was again jam packed as Fantasy stuffed a final dose of geography, history, and culture into the now weary tour members. Our 9:15 bus was late, but just a few minutes. Driver had a 6 am pickup of a group at the airport. All Quantas flights were running 2 hours late due to increased security levels brought on by the arrest of the "alleged" Muslim terrorists in Australia the day before. Don't know why they keep using "alleged". Should just use the Guy Fawkes model and hang 'em early and often.
Our first stop was Mt. Eden, the crater of an extinct (we hope) volcano near downtown Auckland. Driver said it was the only crater in the world you could drive to - obviously hasn't been to Hawaii. Again weather blessed us. Visibility was 60+ miles with a few scattered clouds. Great views of the city and surrounds. Again I took overlapping photos of the view and hope to merge them into panaroma photos when I get home.
Our second stop was the Auckland Museum. Great displays of Morai history, the animal evolutionary history, and a World War II exhibit. The museum was under renovation and their geologic and volcano displays, which were my primary interest, were not open.
Our third tour was the Maritime Museum while we waited for our Sailing Experience. The Kiwi's are very proud of taking the America's Cup from Dennis O'Connor and have a large area of their waterfront that was developed when they got the opportunity to host it here. Our group was given a tour of the waterfront on a large sailboat (took 3 of them for all of us) and then sailed around the harbor for an hour or so. Everyone was given an opportunity to steer the boat. Our crew had a high level of concern when Dean's turn came as we approached the Auckland Bay Bridge, but he managed to get us through without hitting anything.
Our final tour of the day, and this fabulous experience, was a visit to the Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World. He was NZ's Costeau figure and turned an old sewage treatment plant into an aquarium. It had a newly added Stingray display to compliment the underwater viewing tube with moving walkway that was the foundation of the aquarium. It also has a Penquin exhibit. There are a few new chicks, but I didn't see any. They are just a few days old and the parents keep them sheltered on their feet. Did see one penguin sitting on an egg, plus another egg beside it. Not sure what the status of the second egg was. The staff said one of the eggs had cracked today so they were expecting another chick soon.
We finished the final day with the Fantasy traditional Farewell Dinner. Those not doing the Fiji add-on trip will leave tomorrow, 10 November. Seventeen of us will remain in Auckland for one more day and fly to Fiji on the 11th (no flights to Fiji from Auckland on the 10th). Dean was designated as the "Booger King" in recognition of his favorite fine dining spot, and the many "oopsie's" he encountered during the last 48 days. I wasn't a big fan of the pumpkin soup with the seagull dropping (sour cream) but the farewell dinner capped this great tour with the best piece of beef we've had on the trip. One of the cultural experiences of a foreign tour is the opportunity to eat things you normally would not eat - sometimes even when you've ordered what you though was going to be a familiar food.
