Dear Readers:
This will be relatively short report which will just cover Auckland. It is a large city; the largest we encountered in New Zealand. It’s a nice looking city but not beautiful; more notable as a place to live in than to visit. It had some interesting neighborhoods and an active harbor (like Sydney). It was tourist friendly but bland.
As such, we did the types of activities one would expect in a city. We went to 2 museums. The first one was called the Auckland Art Gallery and it had a portrait exhibit and a photographic exhibit. The second one was called the Auckland Museum and was much more interesting. Lots of the exhibits were interactive. They have the largest collection of Maori artifacts as well as some natural history and volcanic activity in the area. In fact, they had an exhibit that showed actual footing of the volcano which exploded in Auckland in 1991; pretty scary. We went to the Emelme Cottage which was built in 1863. Its drawing room, veranda and gardens appeared in the film “The Piano”; (photo attached). We drove through picturesque neighborhoods and looked at old Victorian houses. We went to a rose garden. Then we went to a brewery; figured we needed a change from all the wine! The tour was lots of fun and at the end we got to drink all the beer we wanted. I discovered I like Lion Red. (The last time we went on a brewery tour was at Sam Adams in Boston with Doug and Fawn.) That was yesterday.
Today we drove to the top of 3 different mountains for views of Auckland; one photo attached. Then we crossed the Auckland Harbour Bridge and went to the town of Devonport. This was the first suburb built north of Auckland. It’s a cute little town.
The food in Auckland was excellent. The first night we fell into an Italian restaurant I found in Fodor’s. It was Friday night and the place was full of young people. The food was delicious and we had a Banfi Chianti Classico; that’s a winery we went to in Tuscany that we especially like. The restaurant was in the neighborhood of Parnell. I thought it was like Manyunk in Philly.
On Saturday evening we eat at the O’Donnell Street Bistro; another restaurant recommended by the Wine Spectator. They have been spot on with their New Zealand restaurants; many times their recommendations revolve around the wine and the food lags behind; not these. We had an appetizer made out of kangaroo; was like steak. The wine was a 2002 Hickory Hill cabernet sauvignon; this was winery in Hastings, near where we stayed in Havelock North; it was very good.
This morning we went to Dizengoff for breakfast; touted as a Jewish restaurant; not really; but Marty did get a bagel (of sorts) with cream cheese and lox; see photo. It’s named for the street in Tel Aviv and is supposed to signify that this is the place to go.
We are about to board our next plane. We are now leaving New Zealand (boo hoo) and returning to Australia. We will go first to a resort in Port Douglas (lovely name, no?) which is near the Great Barrier Reef where we will relax for a few days.l
Keep well; keep reading; keep responding.
Much love,
Reporter of Everything
Irene
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