The Wandering Tattler

We returned to the Wellington Airport this morning and took an Air New Zealand flight to Auckland. New Zealand airports are remarkably informal and security measures are quite minimal compared to the US or even Australia. Passengers are often allowed into the gate areas (though not for international flights). Upon landing in Auckland and picking up our last rental car, we made our way north along the M-1 into Auckland to our lodgings at the The New Presidential Hotel near the harbor. After checking into our basic suite on the twelfth floor, we walked a couple of blocks down Victoria Street to Auckland’s SkyTower, tallest building in the southern hemisphere, which had dominated our hotel window view. From the top of the tower we enjoyed a commanding view of the city and its complicated topography -- like Sidney, it has many bays and harbors, many points and peninsulas, and even an isthmus, plus many grassy volcanic cinder cones. After watching some people jump from the tower (it’s a controlled fall along a zip line, but the looks on the jumpers’ faces as they hung for a few seconds in front of the observatory ranged from panic to terror), we descended, watched a multi-media presentation about Auckland (“largest Polynesian city in the world) and then strolled through the open markets by Queen Victoria Park before exploring the waterfront, which is lined by modern apartments and hotels (including a large white Hilton shaped like a pair of ships) and noisy clubs, cafes and seafood restaurants, some with live music. Mounted prominently above the esplanade is one of NZ’s entries in the America’s Cup competition, it’s long white hull gleaming above the brick plaza. The harbor is filled with sailboats and yachts, befitting Auckland’s claim to be “The City of Sails.” As we returned to our hotel, we saw people lining up for buses that would take them to a Rolling Stones concert at a suburban stadium. We ate a fine meal at the Lord Nelson Pub and Restaurant next to the hotel before retiring for the night. From our windows we have an excellent view of the SkyTower, glowing lavender in the urban night sky, and directly across the street from this hotel, in front of a car park are a pair of tall steel towers connected by a long cable which catapults thrill-seekers thirty stories into the air in an open capsule. This being a long (four-day) Easter holiday weekend, this action, accompanied by shrill screams, continued until midnight, but we were in our bed and mostly unconscious by then.