AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND

World Tour of 2013
With Brigit and Sophia (Sonya)

Auckland, February 25th 2013

The Pacific Princess continues to follow her South Westerly course over the South Pacific Ocean for our next port, Auckland, New Zealand's largest city.   With more boats per capita than any other city in the world, Auckland is appropriately known as the City of Sails.  It is also one of the cleanest and most peaceful cities in the world.  Auckland flourishes with more than 1 million residents.  Thousands of Pacific Islanders, seeking employment and education opportunities move here.  These immigrants, coupled with the indigenous Maoris, have made Auckland the largest Polynesian city in the world.

With so many points of interest -- Mount Eden, an extinct volcano, Muri Beach Gannet Colony, sheep sheering demonstrations, Antarctic Encounter, Glow Worm Grotto, Matakana Wine District, Harbour Bridge bungee jump, War Memorial and Maritime Museums -- how do we choose to spend our day in Auckland?

We begin with a "taste of Auckland" and we don't mean wine.  We step aboard our sleek 300HP Volvo turbocharged jet boat, sit back in comfortable grandstand-style seats, don ponchos to keep us relatively dry and set off on the 30 minute ride of a lifetime on breathtaking Waitemata Harbour.  As we hold on tight our experienced Skipper wows us with expertly executed fish tails, spins, turns, and power brake tricks.   Wind blows in our hair, waves come across the boat on both sides towering 5' as we become weightless in the turn as he shuts off the motor and we settle into a weightless drop.  Here we have a taste of the harbour's salty wine.

Whew!  What a trilling ride!  We couldn't wait to get back to safety.  We  stop near the iconic Chelsae sugar refinery and underneath the landmark Harbour Bridge hoping to see somebody bungee jumping.  Soaked through and through we jet back to shore, as the wind quickly blow drys our hair into never before seen styles.

Back to our ship to dispense of our soaked clothes before we're off for more adventure at the Sky Tower, the tallest man-made structure in the Southern hemisphere.  In a mere 40 seconds we zoom up in a glass-floored and front elevator to the observation deck, towering 1072 feet in the air.  Panoramic views and a 360-degree revolving restaurant greet us at the top.  From here we contemplate a "look and leap" from the SkyJump, a cabled 11 second jump at 52 mph from the platform.  We opt for lunch and another sort of bungee jump (see image below).

 

 "Virtual" bungee jump ~ weeeee!

Our day of adventure winds down with a blissful Thai foot massage and an extension of our gratitude with a crystal heart to one of the many lovely people we met in Auckland.  

We re board our floating home-away-from home and set sail for 3 days across the South Pacific Ocean and through the powerful, wild storm waves of Bass Strait to Tasmania, an island state of Australia.


Thank you for sharing this incredible journey with us andthank you for your kind and interesting comments.  We love hearing from you.

Lots of love to you all and best wishes for a beautiful day.
Talk to you soon.  Love, Brigit and Sophia

*****