Day 10 - A Trio of Tourists

With Jane and Tony in Auckland for the day today (I wish it to be known that I had arranged my dates before them, so they are following me!), we had arranged to spend the day together.

Our first stop was the SkyTower - a mere 328 metre high tower. It was apparently the tallest structure in the southern hemisphere until a tower in Indonesia knocked it into silver medal position a few years ago. We perhaps did not time our arrival at the tower very well, as we arrived at the same time as a big group of young school children, but we managed to get into the lift before them and to enjoy the views. I did consider whether I would fancy the job of being a window cleaner at the tower…

We all decided to enjoy the views with a cup of tea or coffee in the SkyBar rather than having a go at the SkyJump off the top (which did indeed look as mad as it sounds). I did toy with the idea of doing the Skywalk, but decided against it, having done similar things in Toronto and New York. I did also have the excuse of not having suitable shoes on…

We were very impressed with the SkyTower though. We were blessed with perfect weather and the views really were stunning.

Once back on terra firma (and having visited the gift shop!), we walked down to the harbour area and found a nice cafe for a snack lunch before going to catch our harbour cruise.

The harbour cruise was fab - it took us out past the port, out to Rangitoto island (close to Waiheke island too), before then coming back past Devenport and under the Harbour Bridge.

Back on shore, we then stopped for two of my favourite things - an ice-cream and a geocache - before parting ways for a couple of hours.

With a couple of free hours in my apartment, I may have made the mistake of resting my eyes for a few minutes. Actually, the real mistake was probably setting my safety alarm for 6:10am rather than pm….. I don’t think I am going to live it down for a while with Jane and Tony that they had to get reception to phone my room to wake me up to go out for dinner!

We walked back down towards the harbour and stopped at a lovely seafood restaurant overlooking the harbour for some fish and chips. It was some of the nicest fish I have ever had I think - SO yummy. We then walked down one of the wharfs. I had been confused by the art installation ‘The Lighthouse’ in the day and don’t think I was any less confused when it was lit up!

We did stop for our second ice-cream of the day (a true Webb holiday) on our way back to our hotels, and Jane and Tony popped in for a cuppa at mine before we parted ways. Hopefully we’ll meet up again as we tour round the country.

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