Spending one day in this city of Sails, Sailors and Sailing does not do this clean, peaceful, beautiful city justice. There is so much to see and do that we all wish that the ship was overnighting here. Everyone's day was different but everyone on the ship had a wonderful time.
We decided to buy tickets for the Auckland Explorer Bus that offers hop on, hop off sightseeing for 14 BIG attractions. We zeroed in on three of them: Bastion Point Lookout, Auckland Museum and Sky Tower. At Bastion Point Lookout, we got off to admire the breathtaking views of the gulf and harbor that justifies Auckland's claim that it has more boats per capita than any other city in the world; walked down a path to Mission Bay Beach; and took the path along the waterfront to pick up the next bus at the stop at Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World. The bus driver assured us that we could make it in 35 minutes. What he obviously failed to take into account was that we were not the super-athletic, uber-fit runners and bikers we passed on the path. We have been the championship eaters on a cruise for a more than a month. It took us 40 minutes so we cooled our heels taking in the glorious sights and sounds of the coastline from the shaded bus stop.
While Sara would have enjoyed stopping at the Parnell Rose Gardens, we agreed to proceed directly to the Auckland Museum, which was built in 1929 to commemorate the end of World War I. Visitors could easily spend a full day or more viewing all the exhibits on the three levels. We concentrated on second level that focuses on New Zealand in World Wars I and II. We were particularly impressed with the "Scars on the Heart" section that included a recreation of a World War I trench on the front line, and the restored British Spitfires and Japanese Zeroes of WWII.
We saw MaryAnn and John from Cruise Critic who highly recommended that we take the one-hour Satellite Bus tour that only runs from the museum during the summer. What a great recommendation it was! The driver took us to the top of Mt. Eden, which is the highest volcano in Auckland with outstanding views of the city and the harbor. He even allowed us a five-minute stop for taking photographs. We also passed Eden Park which will host the 2011 Rugby World Cup and the 2015 Cricket World Cup. The stadium is being expanded to 60,000 seats for the events. This mini-tour was worth the cost of the bus ride itself.
Then we took the regular bus to Sky Tower, the tallest building in the southern hemisphere and the source for ultimate adrenaline adventures, SkyWalk and SkyJump. Ken jokingly wondered if Lauren and Craig, our ship's certified adventure junkies, had done either one when we ran into them suiting up in bright oranges suits for the SkyWalk around the tower's outside ledge. Ken documented the event in pictures, and we wished them well on their latest adventure. As we sped up in the elevator the 40 seconds it takes to get to the top observation deck, we did not that we would spend the rest of our time in Auckland living Lauren and Craig's adventure vicariously.
When we got off at the top level, we looked down to see Lauren and Craig being tethered up for their walk through space. Lying on his belly, Ken took photographs of them as they moved around the tower. Mike and Lu, returning from their tour of a sheep ranch, joined us in the dynamic duo's vicarious adventure. Then we returned to the street level where we found Lauren and Craig suiting up in royal blue gear for the the Sky Jump, the longest 11 seconds of the jumper's life. So we decided to observe their adventures from the plaza. The four minutes in between jumpers is for raising the cables and strapping in the next jumper. Ken should provide the attraction with his suggestion of letting someone who only wants to climb up in the world go up strapped in the gear before the next tourist jumps from the top. Lauren jumped down screaming all the way while Craig was completely silent and acted like he knew exactly what he was doing.
After buying several bottles of New Zealand wine, we walked back to the ship and enjoyed another incredible view as the Pacific Princess sailed out of the Auckland Harbour and into rocky seas on its way to Picton on New Zealand's South Island.
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