The trip was great, a little more involved than I thought it would be which didn't allow me to do more...but that's another story.
The flight up was good, with only a 5-minute hold on the runway waiting for a flock of gulls to be moved along. Arrived to a lovely mild, low-humidity Auckland day. That weather continued for our entire stay.
We were looking for a shuttle outside the terminal when we were approached by a taxi driver asking where we were heading. Told him it was Parnell, and he came back with a price of $75. I was tired and in need of a beer, so I said yes.
My partner said no, too expensive ....he said $65, she said no ...anyway she got him down to $40 cash, and the meter off .......off we went, well done little lady
The hotel was nice, aged, but clean and comfortable with a great balcony view of the CBD and ocean. The service and food were excellent, in fact, I found customer service excellent everywhere I went. Christchurch could learn a thing or two.
On one of my walks (no car this time), I covered the whole Parnell area, the waterfront, and Judge's bay. I've never seen so many cafes, galleries, and boutiques on one road. I didn't do any plane spotting ...but did plenty of car spotting.
It was like a motor show on the main drag of Parnell. I stopped at a little place for a $10!! bottle of Stella, just so I could drool over the Lambo, Ferrari, and McLaren parked outside ...really wanted a photo, but decided not to.
Just about every second car was European, followed by Teslas ...they were everywhere. I did however do some ship spotting. Amazing to watch tugs berthing a huge container ship, and the seemingly endless parade of fast ferries coming and going.
Apart from getting lost on one walk back from the museum (but helped by friendly locals), it was a really nice break. The flight home was good, the only problem was I gave my window seat to my partner, so I ended up in the middle seat (which I hate) next to a very chatty chap who I'm sure had been to a garlic festival ...bloody long 90 minutes.
My only criticism would be the AKL domestic terminal, starting with the drop-off area ... we were dumped in the middle of the taxi lane and had to dodge cars to get to the footpath. The building is a barn compared to CHC, the public address system is shocking .....not being awful, but with heavy foreign accents being transmitted over a scratchy, echoing system isn't ideal. I'm glad we knew what was going on because if you were being paged, you would have no idea of what was being said.
Other than that I had a great time...planning the next, with wheels this time.
