Auckland 1.5 million people live here. The nickname of the city is city of sails. Devonport is the waterfront area. The town used to be called Flagstaff. There is a famous naval base here with some of the oldest ship yards. People live to sail here with 135,000 yachts registered here. It has the largest yacht marina in the Southern Hemisphere. We arrive at 8 and all aboard 7:30. We dock at the Princess Wharf and no shuttle buses are provided because we are right there in town. New Zealand is famous for extreme sports.
We had the morning off here to walk around. The weather is just right, cool and cloudy but no rain. We walked around looking for some good Wi-Fi and were able to talk to our kids but not really good service. We went back for a quick lunch around noon and then got in a half day city tour with a private group on the ship. There is a lot of construction around the port and it’s a mess. The town is bustling with lots of greenery and shrubs. Our first stop is the Winter Gardens.
They get 54 inches of rain a year here! Temps are mild here, 41-65 Fahrenheit. There can be between 75-95 humidity but it feels great here. The winter gardens were packed with school kids!! Everyone is getting ready for the summer break so they are all on field trips. The area was small but nice. Not a lot of graffiti here because they rounded up all the kids violating graffiti and sent them to art school!! It worked and now they can be hired for their art. Great idea! They call high school here colleges. Universities are higher learning. Auckland is the second most diverse city and Vancouver, BC is the first. There are 10 sheep to every person!! 45,000,000! Auckland has 20 beaches and very safe swimming areas. Unemployment here is around 4%. We tour a monument of Michael Savage which is a lovely park with beautiful views. There is also a park which used to be a large farm. The owner left it to the city many years ago and the size of the park is much smaller but they raise sheep here right in the middle of the city and the funds they get from the sheep keep the park running. The tour is rather short but gives us a good view of the city and the beautiful beaches. I threw in a few photos of the ships Christmas decorations which are starting to pop up all over!!
Queens Wharf..
More lovely Jacaranda trees..
Beautiful coastlines and beach areas
Wintergarden
Inside the greenhouses and arboretum
The sheep farm/park recently sheeted:(
Views from the park
Christmas Tree blossom
Savage Memorial Park
Gorgeous trees
Hot lemon tea by the ships pool with a good book !!
Pool side wine tasting
And gingerbread houses built by the staff
And all the fresh flowers around the ship are getting changed out for the holidays.
The Atrium decorated.
Our favorite waitress on the Lido, Alice, and sine AZ friends who we met before the cruise
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