The City of Sails

Saturday

Swine flu paranoia has hit New Zealand full force, as Mark discovered this week at work. Clinics were calling the ED to see if we could spare any flu swabs because they had run out! We had a quiet week at home, though; it rained pretty much every day. Entertaining Ro in the apartment had become quite a challenge, so with Mark off this weekend we were eager to get out of town and see something new. We needed an indoor activity in case the weather stayed dodgy, so we headed north to Auckland.

Ro fortifying his pillow fort with weapons

Ro charges Mark to bludgeon him with his Bunning's hammer

The dragon takes flight from the couch

Auckland is by far the biggest city in NZ, containing almost a third of the population of the entire country, almost 1.5 million people. It's the only place here that would qualify as a "big city" by American standards. Tauranga, which recently replaced Dunedin (on South Island) as the fifth biggest city in NZ, is tiny by comparison, with just over 100K people. We've found that Kiwis outside of Auckland often regard Aucklanders much like people in the US regard people from New York City - a bit out of touch with "real life." Mark seems to see a lot of patients from Auckland on Saturdays, as parents bring their kids down for athletic competitions (rugby matches, netball games, etc...) resulting in various sprains and fractures; he's heard the nurses at work refer to them (the yuppie parents, not the kids) on several occasions as JAFAs - Just Another F---ing Aucklander...purely in jest, of course. All kidding aside, Auckland was just named the 4th best place to live in the world by Forbes magazine.

See link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auckland

Driving there from Mt Maunganui took a little over 2 hours. We had to drive through the beautiful Karangahake Gorge, so we broke up the trip with a stop at Owharoa Falls. Sherry and Ro had been there before, but this was Mark's first time. Nobody was in the swimming hole below the falls this time though, as the weather was chilly and damp. After driving through a torrential downpour on the outskirts of Auckland, the weather finally broke for us and remained beautiful the rest of the day.

Ro & Mark at Owharoa Falls

Sherry outside the aquarium, Auckland skyline in distance

Our first stop was Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Encounter & Underwater World, the premier aquarium in NZ. Mark equates the aquarium part of it to the Aquarium of the Bay at Pier 39 in San Francisco, with moving walkways under a glass tunnel, with sharks and various fish swimming above you. There was also a large open tank with fish, a sea turtle, and three HUGE stingrays (over 2m across); we watched them get hand-fed by the staff as they happily splashed their wings, soaking the kids standing along the edge of the pool.

See link: http://www.kellytarltons.co.nz/

A stingray splashing kids who get too close

Ro never did get to ask his question. His teacher Ms Dohnt would be proud nonetheless

Ro & Sherry checking out Underwater World

Ro high-fiving a diver

There was also a pretty cool kids section, with a seemingly random collection of things to do, but the kids didn't mind. There was an explorer submarine with working lights, a light microscope, treasure chests full of costumes to play dress-up, a suction cup demonstration (to simulate octopus suckers), a padded corridor that got progressively narrower to simulate getting squeezed by an octopus, and various penguin-themed objects including a surfboard, ring-toss, and Foosball table.

Racing in these penguin feet is harder than it looks, because they're tethered together

Ro batting a ball with his penguin flippers

Sherry & Ro in the Squidzilla submarine

Ro in his shark costume examining the fine detail of a turtle shell

Ro thought the giant squid carcass was pretty creepy-looking

What sets Kelly Tarlton's apart from other aquariums, though, is the Antarctic Experience. As you enter the place, you can try dipping your arms in Antarctic-equivalent water for 30 seconds (that hurts, by the way), the kids can clamber around on a SnowCat or snowmobile, and you can explore the very detailed recreation of Captain Robert Scott's hut, with many of the original artifacts. You can also ride in a SnowCat to go inside the penguin exhibit - otherwise you'd freeze. The penguins were adorable, but Ro's favorite part was the animatronic Orca whale.

Sherry wisely deferred this test of wills

Ro behind the wheel of an old SnowCat

Sherry posing in Robert Scott's hut

Ro & Sherry peering at the penguins from the SnowCat

A King penguin strutting his stuff

Sherry adored these fluffy penguin chicks

After leaving the aquarium, we headed down the shore to a park we'd seen earlier to let Ro burn off some energy on the jungle gym, then went downtown. Mark drove while Sherry navigated, and after a brief comedy of errors trying to find a parking spot, we arrived at SkyCity. As this was a spur-of-the-moment trip, we didn't have dinner reservations; the Orbit and Observatory restaurants up in the SkyTower were booked up, so we tightened our belts and took the elevator up to the Observation Deck to watch the sunset. Ro was fascinated by the glass-bottomed elevator, which showed just how fast those things move.

See link: http://www.skycityauckland.co.nz/Attractions/Skytower.html

Auckland's not called the City of Sails for nothing

Ro kept yelling "Faster! Faster!"


Arranged in a circle, these swings had restraining chains on them so you can't jump off


Mark & Sherry relaxing in Orakei Domain while Ro plays


Ro giving this girl a hand. He forgot to get her digits


Mt Victoria across Okahu Bay from Orakei Domain

Auckland's SkyTower is the tallest man-made structure in the southern hemisphere, and we paid the extra couple of bucks to go to the even-higher SkyDeck; the view wasn't all that different, and we think Ro preferred the lower Observation Deck so he could watch the SkyJumpers falling down to the ground below. There's even an LED display above the window with "Jumper in 30 seconds" and other such bulletins. Sherry giggled as she watched Ro cautiously tiptoe around the sections of glass flooring for fear of falling through. He may have had Willy Wonka on his mind, because as we got into the second elevator to go to the SkyDeck, he asked the operator fearfully, "this elevator doesn't go outside, does it?"

Ro & Sherry checking out the view from the Observation Deck

Sherry on the SkyDeck, Mt Eden in the distance

Ro & Mark falling backwards to their doom. Oh, wait, there's glass there

The Hills with the Auckland Harbour Bridge in the background

Ro's more captivated by climbing support beams than the expansive view

Auckland's City Centre at dusk

Watching the lights come on in the city at dusk was a beautiful sight, but we were all famished by that point, and were in the mood for something more substantial than the coffee-shop offerings at the Sky Lounge - easily the nicest view from a coffee shop we've ever seen. With Ro in tow, we couldn't go into the casino, so we headed for Rebo Cafe. The food was pretty good by hotel lobby restaurant standards; Mark had a perfectly medium rare wood fired lamb loin with apricot stuffing, Sherry had a top-notch smoked chicken caesar salad (with poached egg on top), and Ro had a cheese pizza (with the basil scraped off by Sherry after some fussing). The service, although cheerful, was frustrating - our waiter basically disappeared after serving our mains (that's what they call entrees here - "entrees" in NZ are appetizers in the US). Unfortunately, he must not have turned our table over to another waiter, so our coffee and dessert were delayed a good half-hour.

Ro enjoying his long-awaited sundae

Ro fell asleep shortly after getting in the car, quickly forgetting his embarrassment at getting changed into his pajamas in a parking deck, "but Mama, what if somebody sees me?" We lucked out and were able to catch the All Blacks match on the radio on the way home. This was the first Test Match (see link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test_match_(rugby_union)) of the year, and the local pundits have been generally pessimistic about the coming season, as the new All Blacks roster is relatively inexperienced and decimated by injuries. Tonight they were playing in Dunedin, and looking for a measure of revenge for a 2007 Rugby World Cup quarter-final loss to France. Unfortunately, revenge will have to wait until next week in Wellington, as we lost a nail-biter tonight to Les bleus 27-22 after falling behind early 17-3 and knotting it up 17-17 at one point.

After putting Ro to bed, Sherry needed something to soothe her throat (she's coming down with a cold), so we sat around drinking port and caught the end of The Two Towers on SkyTV. Mark tried to stifle his dismay when she doused herself in Vicks VapoRub before bed; the stuff smells pretty vile when you're not sick...lol.