Auckland and Papeete

When we purchased our airline tickets, we got two stopovers thrown in. We decided that a stop in Auckland might be interesting. Originally, we thought we would tour around the northern part of the island, but we had done so much touring already that we decided to just stay put and enjoy what Auckland had to offer. There is a nice harbour area here and our hotel/apartment was in the centre of things. We walked all around the area, visited some parks, did some shopping, went to "My Fair Lady", visited an aquarium, and took some ferry boat rides to other areas nearby. We didn't go up the Tower below and if you look really closely, just below the rim is a speck. That speck is someone who paid to jump off the tower. They pay to do this????!!!!

The downtown harbour area and the container port.

We visited a volcanic island that was relatively new - 400 years old. There are
guided tours and very strict rules about what you can do over there. The last
boat back to Auckland leaves at 4:30 and if you miss it, you spend the night
there all by yourself. Nobody lives on the island. We saw a lot of this
volcanic rock. Check out the video at the end of the blog.

Then we had the opportunity to go to Kelly Tarleton's Aquarium. Here , we saw penguins in a pretty interesting enclosure. They did not seem very stressed at all. Some of the pictures I took while travelling past their habitat in a snow machine. There also was an historical museum of the trips taken by explorers to Antarctica. It was a very educational and fun experience.

Oh!!! Penguins.

It is real snow and the temperature is kept at a level where
the penguins do not have any stress.

These penguins are lying on the snow in order to keep cool.

Mark, one of the handlers, feeding the penguins. They are marked so
that the handlers make sure they all eat and are given their
vitamins as well.

In the aquarium section, you can walk down a glass tunnel
and see all the fish swimming above and around you.

See. Horses.

Here is the view again of Auckland from the settlement called
Devenport. It is a small suburb of the city. Very laid-back. We
walked up this hill which was used as a site for the defense forces
during the war. There are bunkers all around and a very interesting
interactive video in the museum.

Then, it was off to our second stop-over, Papeete, in French Polynesia. We decided that we could splurge and stay in a nice resort on a black sand beach.

The sand was black, but very fine and it got very warm in the sun.

Sunset from our balcony at the resort.

We went for a walk up a mountain road that went behind our resort.
Here is the picture. I never took pictures of the papaya trees or
the banana trees which were growing in the woods. We had
a fresh papaya that had fallen off the tree. Very ripe, very sweet and
very good.

Our resort is just around the bend of rock where this guy is standing.
The next picture would be of him in the water. He and his buddy
were jumping off the cliff when the waves would come in. Notice the large rocks.

This is the garden area of the City Hall of Papeete. You can
also see other parts of the city behind.

You can sure see the French influence here.

How many Bip Bip Burger Joints have you seen? An interesting name.

Paul Gaugin, the French painter, moved from France to Papeete.
We never made it to the museum honouring him, but he
is honoured(?) in many other ways as well.

Here is the downtown market. We went here and bought fresh fruit
and snacks and lunch both days we visited. It is a very busy place
when the Paul Gaugin cruise ship is in town, also more expensive.

Fresh tuna steak anyone? Arone would love to visit this store.

Another honour for M. Gaugin.

Footprints in the black sand.

This was our last picture taken in Tahiti. This is the pool area
at sunset.

So our trip was done. 2 months away from home. Mountains, wildfires, animals, great friends, driving on the other side of the road, multiple modes of transport, almost 4,000 pictures. Great memories and a knowledge that we will have to get back there.

Volcanic rocks and more volcanic rocks

Penguins (sorry, no audio)

Our beach and the waves