Whenever I mentioned this little trip prior to departure, people probably thought I was off my rocker for actually traveling with my 62 year old father. Think about it–you probably can’t imagine spending 2 weeks straight with either of your parents, or purposefully including 16-20hr flights in that time period. Now, imagine traveling with someone who has a very rigid diet and a horrible caffeine addiction. We managed just fine though.
The flight from Vancouver to Auckland went smoothly. Air New Zealand had super friendly flight staff, and the economy seats were actually roomy. I could reach my arm straight out, and wasn’t even flat palmed on the seat back in front of me. Even the safety video was more fun than normal.
We stayed in the central business district, just up from the Britomart transport centre which is the last stop for the Airport Shuttle. We were just up from the ferry terminal, and only short distances from most major sights. So, we were close to everything we wanted to see and were able to travel on foot.
One of the first things we did was go to the top of the Sky Tower. This tower dominates the Auckland City skyline. At 328 meters high, it is the tallest man-made structure in New Zealand, and from the top, you can see up to 80km in every direction. Pretty easy way to figure out where you want to go in the city–get above the roadways and map it out yourself!
Auckland Harbour Bridge built 1959
Auckland Museum – Tamaki Paenga Hira
One Tree Hill – Maungakiekie
Auckland Town Hall
Auckland Harbour Bridge, built in 1959. For the nerds, it was the last lattice girder bridge built in the world (I only know that from the info at the top of the tower!). One Tree Hill aka Maungakiekie. Maungakiekie is one of the largest Maori settlement complexes in New Zealand. The original Totara tree was cut down for firewood by early settlers. They replaced it with a Pine tree that was cut down in 2000 because it was dead. Now there is an obelisk at the summit for Sir John Logan Campbell. Maybe the name should be changed to One Obelisk Hill, because I didn’t notice a tree. We didn’t visit One Tree Hill.
We did visit the Auckland War Memorial Museum aka Tamaki Paenga Hira. We walked to the museum from Sky Tower. There are some very pretty trails through the trees on the museum grounds. The museum was first of many war memorials we saw in New Zealand. More on that later.
