Our morning started early with a 7:30 City of Sales excursion. They don’t mess around with time here, that bus left at 7:27 and we were the last ones on. Fortunately Nancy, John, Candy, Alton and Sue were also on our tour. The temperature was a lovely brisk sunny day (my words). MyLisa called it chilly and crisp at 48 degrees.

We learned a lot about the city and the north island. Did you know that the north island was formed volcanically, but the south formed by glaciers? Auckland is known as the city of sails because it’s on the water and 1 out of every 4 families owns a boat. There were so many sailboats. We drove by the Westhaven Marina home of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron winners of the Americas Cup. We went over the Harbor Bridge, and it was not that exciting. It has a steep incline because Aucklands sugar refinery distributes sugar to many other islands.

We drove through some very interesting neighborhoods.

• Ponsonby – adorable, and hip bars, classy restaurants, boutique shops and 10 min from Auckland central.

• Parnell- Auckland’s oldest neighborhood and looks like an old town village filled with boutiques, cafes and rose gardens. We didn’t get to see it, but there’s also a La Cigale French market on weekends.
• Herne Bay – one of the most affluent suburbs. It’s adorned by expensive homes ranging fro mew construction to Edwardian age homes all with an amazing view of the harbor.

What MyLisa found interesting from the tour was the history between the Maori people and how land was changed or exchanged, their how they assert their tribal heritage and rights. As a warrior tribe they fought for respect and not land, power or religion. We visited a Michael Joseph Savage Memorial Park on Bastion Point which was owned by the Maori. They have ensured the land was preserved and not built on respecting Mother Earth. As prime minister he was Commonly known as the architect of the NZ welfare state. Savage is generally regarded by academics and the general public as one of New Zealand’s greatest and most revered prime ministers. To date he is the only New Zealand prime minister or premier to serve under three monarchs.

Before returning to the ship we saw the Sky Tower again, the EY building. We dropped a few people off on Queens street for shopping. We went back to the ship and MyLisa took a nap. I started writing this blog. We left around 12:30 to eat at the Crab Shak two piers over. We ran into Pat and Victor who were coming back from the Maritime museum. They recommended it so we decided to go after lunch. For lunch MyLisa ordered the green lipped mussels in a white wine sauce and I was hoping to eat spanner crab, but the only had blue claw Australian swimmer crab, she loved her mussels, and my crab was okay.

The Maritime Museum was excellent. It started with a brief film of the Maori people canoeing and eventually arrived in New Zealand. The canoes were more like catamarans but quite dangerous in the open sea. Other exhibits included

• Polynesian, Maori vessels and navigation
• European voyages of discovery – seeing the different living quarters based on your class in life was interesting
• Settlement and immigration
• Early coastal trading
• Whaling and sealing
• Modern commercial shipping
• Tribute to Sir Peter Blake: New Zealand’s remarkable yachting success and its greatest exponent. Exhibition included the 1995 America’s Cup-winning boat NZL32, Innovative designers and thinkers in NZ’s boating industry and Sir Peter Blake’s famous Red Socks

We walked back to the ship, made it in time for 4pm high tea with Carolyn and Steve. Both the company and food were wonderful. Then we all had a mandatory drill and had to proceed to our stations. We went downstairs, which I didn’t like. Felt more like we’d go down with the ship from here. A bunch of people were going to dinner right afterwards, MyLisa and I decided to do dinner later at the seafood buffet. At 6pm we left port and are on our way to Tauranga. The sunset and skyline view of Auckland was just spectacular.