I have been to Auckland three times so far; the first time I spent in the downtown area, the second I took the ferry over to Devonport, and the third back in the downtown area.

The first time, I went out in downtown and wandered about checking out the ferry terminal area to see where they went, then walked up along Queen Street, the main drag in the CBD. I did a bit of shopping, and had a very pleasant sushi lunch in Sushi King off Queen Street. I then found Techno Fix device repair shop on Queen Street, who tried to fix my IPhone for me. Hashish, who works there was very helpful, honest and direct, which I have not always found in phone and device repair stores. I then met up with my friend Dylan, who I worked with on a ship 10 years ago in New Zealand, as his father and him run the tour company Renaissance Tours, which provide many tours around New Zealand. They have the contract with some cruise lines to provide their tours as well, with RCCL and Princess. I worked on RCCL at the time, which is how I got to know Dylan. We kept in touch over the years and it was really awesome to meet up in person and catch up on the entire goings on over the years, including us both progressing in our careers, and getting married and buying property, and him now having a son.

The second time I was in Auckland, I took the ferry over to Davenport. It is a charming village, and even though it was raining very heavily for most of the day, the village was still a delightful place to visit. The tourist information office on the main street is very useful. With two helpful ladies there who are very enthusiastic and proud of their wee village and very happy to tell you all about it. The Heritage Walks (all of which take about an hour) in particular look very interesting and they will give you the leaflets with maps (all of which are attached here) so you can self guide the walk and learn a lot more about the area. I walked up most of Mount Victoria in the rain then browsed the galleries and shops full of curiosities. I found the Devonport Chocolates store and enjoyed viewing their wares, sampling their chocolate and bought some for Nick for his birthday (that day). We went for birthday sushi lunch in Asahi in the main street, where you can choose your food from the trays displayed or order off the menu. The sushi was very tasty. We stopped for a cup of coffee out of the rain in Java Coffee in the Arcades, with some Wi-Fi, (and they have a good supply of magazines and periodicals for you to read while sitting there if you like), then took the ferry back to downtown Auckland and the ship for work.

The third visit was also rainy and there wasn’t too much time, so we spent it in the CB again when we got out after working a bit in the morning. This time we went to the Auckland Art Gallery and enjoyed all the levels of art, modern, traditional, Kiwi and International. Afterwards we headed to Grasshopper Thai restaurant on Lower Albert Street to have a farewell lunch with some friends from the crew who were leaving the ship that day. The restaurant has delicious authentic Thai dishes and good lunch special deals (no Wi-Fi).