Besides that incredible evening in Hobbiton, I managed a few other interesting experiences in the North Island of New Zealand before it was time to leave.
First of all, here are a couple of pictures of the spectacular coastal scenery at Piha, west of Auckland on the west coast. The drive here was one of the tamer versions of the zigzag mountain roads found everywhere in this mountainous country.
In the "Just when you think you've seen it all" awards category comes this Piha road sign....
...and these two reasons why it is so very necessary.
On the way to Rotorua I passed this very unusual -- okay, weird -- landscape along a one-kilometre stretch of the road. I'd love to know the geology behind this one.
Rotorua itself is set in a valley full of steaming vents, mud pools, hot springs, and geysers. My hotel room directly overlooked a major section of the thermal fields, including the dramatic Te Puia Pohutu geyser. With a view like this, who needs to pay admission?
Rotorua, like other communities in geothermal activity areas, makes good use of its resource by using heat exchangers to transmit the heat from the ground to hot-water heating tanks, swimming pools, and even home heating units for colder weather. As well, bathing in the hot water from the springs, with its strong whiff of sulphur, is recommended for many ailments. Most accommodations in Rotorua have their own hot springs pools for their guests, and there are also large public bathhouses for those not so fortunate.
I'm sorry I didn't get a picture because I couldn't stop due to traffic, but one day I sighted a steaming vent right under the wooden fence behind a house on the side of the main road! That's Rotorua, in a nutshell, and it's a fascinating place -- provided the omnipresent odour of sulphur doesn't irritate you too much. I found myself that after a day there I hardly noticed it any more.
And then there's Auckland, the "City of Sails," with its large natural harbour that makes it the country's major port of entry for cargoes of all kinds. Auckland's airport is also the major point of entry for visitors arriving in New Zealand. The city houses about 1.5 million people, almost 1/3 of New Zealand's entire population.
On my last night in New Zealand, I was lucky enough to stay (on my reward points) in the $400/night Hilton Hotel right on Prince's Quay in downtown Auckland. Hilton allows you to pick the room of your choice when checking in online a day ahead, and I chose and got one that is nominally a "city view" room but still has a corner balcony where you get these views.
On my last night in New Zealand, I was lucky enough to stay (on my reward points) in the $400/night Hilton Hotel right on Prince's Quay in downtown Auckland. Hilton allows you to pick the room of your choice when checking in online a day ahead, and I chose and got one that is nominally a "city view" room but still has a corner balcony where you get these views.
This hotel also has a unique outdoor heated pool with sundeck, between the hotel and its mirror-image apartment building neighbour.
Swimming in that pool was a freaky experience, to put it mildly. Every second lap you come up against a thick plexiglass window and if you are wearing goggles you get a picture-perfect view of the waterfront four stories below -- and the inevitable passer-by staring up at you. They stare because they get a picture-perfect view of you through the plexiglass! Each time, I waved. Some of them waved back. Some of them turned away as if embarrassed to be caught staring!
By the way, if you think these buildings look a bit like cruise ships, that is not an accident. It's a deliberate choice by the architect, carried out right to the seaward end of each building which has a point like a ship's bow. So does the landward end of one of the apartment blocks.
Prince's Quay also doubles as a cruise ship terminal. And that was another freaky thing that happened. The ship docked beside the hotel was the German cruise liner, Phoenix-Reisen's Artania. I sailed on that ship in 2000, when she was sailing for her original owner, Princess Cruises, as the first Royal Princess. I also saw the ship again just over a year ago, when another Princess cruise that I was taking stopped for a day in the Portuguese island of Madeira, and the Artania was in port there the same day. I think the ship is following me around!
As in many cities, one of the best ways to hit all the highlights in Auckland -- especially if you are staying downtown -- is to use the hop-on-hop-off sightseeing bus tour. This takes you to such major attractions as Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World (which is in fact mostly underground) and the War Memorial Museum in the large public park called the Auckland Domain.
By the way, if you think these buildings look a bit like cruise ships, that is not an accident. It's a deliberate choice by the architect, carried out right to the seaward end of each building which has a point like a ship's bow. So does the landward end of one of the apartment blocks.
Prince's Quay also doubles as a cruise ship terminal. And that was another freaky thing that happened. The ship docked beside the hotel was the German cruise liner, Phoenix-Reisen's Artania. I sailed on that ship in 2000, when she was sailing for her original owner, Princess Cruises, as the first Royal Princess. I also saw the ship again just over a year ago, when another Princess cruise that I was taking stopped for a day in the Portuguese island of Madeira, and the Artania was in port there the same day. I think the ship is following me around!
As in many cities, one of the best ways to hit all the highlights in Auckland -- especially if you are staying downtown -- is to use the hop-on-hop-off sightseeing bus tour. This takes you to such major attractions as Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World (which is in fact mostly underground) and the War Memorial Museum in the large public park called the Auckland Domain.
The use of the word "Domain" to describe a park is a down-underism found in most cities, towns, and even villages in Australia and New Zealand. The incorporation of a War Memorial of some kind into the Domain is virtually a given. But rarely do you meet one like this which serves some other purpose as well.
Another spot on the tour is Mount Eden. Although the narrow summit road is now closed to motor vehicles, you can drop off the bus and hike the last steep 300 metres to the summit on the road. I passed, not because I couldn't get up that hill, but because the steep grade would force me to walk very slowly on the way down (due to my bad knee) and I would probably have missed the next -- and last -- tour bus of the day. So I settled for this partial view from the parking area.
Another spot on the tour is Mount Eden. Although the narrow summit road is now closed to motor vehicles, you can drop off the bus and hike the last steep 300 metres to the summit on the road. I passed, not because I couldn't get up that hill, but because the steep grade would force me to walk very slowly on the way down (due to my bad knee) and I would probably have missed the next -- and last -- tour bus of the day. So I settled for this partial view from the parking area.
One of the nicest things to do in Auckland is to hop on the ferry across the harbour to Devonport, a suburb on the north shore, and settle onto the patio of the dignified dowager Esplanade Hotel for lunch or dinner.
The hotel produced a marvellous meal, and the combination of sunshine and view was delightful, And here, as I finished dinner around 6:30 pm, I saw proof of exactly why Auckland is called "The City of Sails." It only needed enough time for the crews to get to the various marinas from their day jobs, and get their boats rigged up and ready to go -- and the harbour was transformed.
The hotel produced a marvellous meal, and the combination of sunshine and view was delightful, And here, as I finished dinner around 6:30 pm, I saw proof of exactly why Auckland is called "The City of Sails." It only needed enough time for the crews to get to the various marinas from their day jobs, and get their boats rigged up and ready to go -- and the harbour was transformed.
The great spectacle of the evening sailaway was the flotilla of yachts acting as escort to the Princess Cruises liner Dawn Princess as she glided majestically down the harbour towards the open sea.
And that was my final evening in New Zealand. Five hours after these last pictures were taken I was aboard the Hawaiian Airlines' red-eye to Honolulu.
A sightseeing tour around Auckland and Rotorua, and surrounding areas of New Zealand's North Island.
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