Auckland

It was a quiet start to our weekend in Auckland.  The flight back from Cairns went smoothly although I wasn’t too impressed that the customs officers allowed the little beagle to not only sniff the outside of our bags but to lick inside our chilly bag (used to house our food needed for the flight). Its one of those things that afterwards you wish you had said something.  We arrived latish at the City Lodge Backpackers – just off Queen Street – after catching a shuttle and having a long conversation with a woman from Cairns over for the triathlon (Auckland is so lucky to have this event she kept telling us).  Our hotel was excellent and proved itself to deserve its 5 star assessment – so if you want a cheapish place in central Auckland here’s the linkhttp://www.citylodgehotelauckland.com/ (it must be good cos this is the first time I have put a link in to the blog).  We didn’t sleep too well that night, a mixture of tiredness, coughing, tossing and turning and so our plans to get up early and head off to Rangitoto Island didn’t eventuate and we slept through to lunch time.  Which in retrospect wasn’t a bad idea as it was raining reasonably heavily.  So, instead we found a nice place on the waterfront for brunch/lunch (where we started sitting outside but were asked to go inside as the awning was going to be taken down due to the wind).  Harry watched a replay of the rugby (Aust vs NZ) at the same time I watched the NZ vs England netball (we could sit at the same table and do this) and after that we wandered off to watch the triathlon where we were right on time to see the end of the elite men finish their endurance test and the start of the junior mens race – both in rather wet, windy and slippery conditions. Then it was off to see Mary Poppins which was rather good – great props and singing and certainly worth seeing.  The highlight, rather unexpectantly was visiting for the first time The Civic Theatre.  The theatre was built in 1929 (in 33 weeks) and was the first theatre in NZ built specifically for ‘talking pictures’ and later a venue for shows during World War 11 particularly when the American servicemen were visiting. The Wintergarden Cabaret became the home to troupes of adagio dancers – Freda Stark became well known as due to her lack of clothes (gold paint, G-string and feather headdress, and nothing). Nothing is really new is it?  Harry and I picked the Indian and Moorish influences – hardly miss them really Buddhas, twisted columns, turrets, minarets, spires, tiled roofs to name a few.  All built into a ‘night sky’ ceiling.  The theatre was restored in 1999 and it is still huge (later found out it can seat  2,378 people and is the largest theatre in New Zealand).  The casino wasn’t far away so we had a cheap dinner there, watched people avidly play roulette and then wandered back in the rain. The next day started much like the one before – a bit of a sleep in and a meal at the Casino with a leisurely read of the newspaper.  We then took a 40 second elevator ride up to the top of the Sky tower with some brave people who had paid to do a bungy jump – 192 metre drop to the bottom).  Having never been up it before it was quite an experience.  We saw our elevator companions  jump off the building and land safely, and had a great view of Auckland Harbour and CBD.  And just because we come from Wellington here is a few interesting facts… The tower is designed to withstand winds up to 200 km/h (but was closed in November 2006 when it began to sway under 150 km/h winds) and resist earthquakes (it is expected to survive unscathed an 7.0 earthquake centered 40 kilometres). Sharon and Aaron picked us up from the airport and after tidying up it was time to get ready for work.