Auckland, City of SailsBy Valerie Summers
Kiwi’s, as New Zealand natives are fondly called, are easy going, hospitable people who love the outdoors. Auckland, its largest city, is known as the City of Sails and on any sunny weekend, the bay is filled with boats, their sails billowing in the wind. New Zealanders are said to have more boats per capita than any other country in the world. Aside from the gently rolling manicured hills which look like golf courses, there are more than 400 uncrowded links with something to suit every golfing taste and this is another sport in which New Zealanders indulge.
On another day, a Kiwi friend took me on a three-hour jaunt into the countryside to an area called The Coromandel. Spectacular scenery, recreation reserves, native bush, idyllic seaside bays and beaches and a vast and rugged landscape comprise The Coromandel. There were many excellent walks and tramps. Castle Rock, Waiau Falls, Kauri Grove and the Coromandel Walkway were all breathtakingly beautiful. Reaching the summit of Mt. Moehau, Coromandel’s highest mountain, was well worth the five hour hike for the panoramic view of the entire peninsula. Continuing our outing, we drove into the kiwi farm owned by my friend. A creek ran through it and there was a private swimming hole. The water was so pure and clean that we scooped it with our hands right out of the stream. We tramped through the bush without the help of trails and took a swim in the chilly waters of the old swimming hole. Coromandel has a special magic to it and has been called one of the spiritual vortexes of the world. It is a place to go and leave the stresses of city life behind.
To get an overview of Auckland, WorldWise Travel Services arranged a full day city tour with Great Sights “Auckland Experience.” (Telephone 0800 808 797.) I was seated next to a group of Italians who didn’t understand English but somehow through sign language and my very poor knowledge of Spanish, I managed to interpret for them which made it an even more interesting trip. We were shown the posh neighborhoods with their multi million dollar homes, the government buildings, and the university situated next to The Domain, acres and acres of parkland with quiet ponds, athletic fields with soccer games and cricket games afoot, greenhouses filled with exotic plants and plenty of room to stroll or enjoy a picnic in a secluded spot. In this setting, free concerts were performed regularly. The tour stopped at the Auckland Museum, an imposing neo-classical building, also located in the Domain on a hilltop overlooking the harbor. The museum’s collections included Maori and Pacific artifacts, the decorative arts of Asia, Europe and New Zealand and comprehensive scientific collections of New Zealand’s natural history. A magnificent Maori war canoe was the most outstanding single piece in the collection. While exploring the museum, I suddenly heard music from what sounded like ancient instruments. When I followed the sound, I discovered the Pounamu Maori Cultural Group of singers and dancers performing age old rituals in the Maori section of the museum, staged in front of a traditional Maori straw hut. The Weird and Wonderful Children’s Discovery Center provided a wealth of hands-on experience for all ages and from what I could see, the children were laughing and learning and generally having a good time in this colorfully decorated section of the museum. At lunchtime, we drove to the harbor and boarded the Pride of Auckland, a sailboat, where we were served a delicious meal of fish caught locally. Then we proceeded on an exhilarating one hour cruise, with the striking blue and white striped sails raised and the boat skimming over the water out into the harbor and under the expansive Auckland Harbor Bridge. Our final stop was Kelly Tarlton’s Antarctic Encounter and Underwater World at Orakei Wharf located on the scenic Tamaki Drive. We were transported through acrylic tunnels for underwater views of sharks, rays. colorful fish and other marine life. The new Arctic Encounter gave us a unique view of the frozen continent. Strolling down Queen Street, the city’s main boulevard, with its many malls, department stores and office buildings crowded with pedestrians, I didn’t sense the frantic pace that is so common on the main thoroughfare of many major cities. While window shopping I spotted a greenstone kiwi about the size of a baseball and proceeded inside to investigate this little creature. I was told that greenstone is a type of jade indigenous to New Zealand and the Maori’s have long attributed special powers to it. With these magical powers in mind, I couldn’t resist taking this lovely reminder of a land of gentleness and beauty back to California. It sits in my living room, a constant reminder of the paradise on the other side of the world. For more information: New Zealand Tourism Board |
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“You sure have a lot of golf courses here,” I commented to my companion as we crossed the Hauraki Gulf passing dozens of neatly manicured landscapes. We were picnicking on the deck of a ferry bound for the island of Waiteke. My friend laughed and responded that what I was seeing were not golf courses. “That’s just the way New Zealand looks,” was the reply. And so it did with fluffy white clouds floating in an azure sky, clear blue ocean waters and rolling green hills that seemed to go on forever. When we arrived at our destination, 35 minutes later, we boarded a bus to go nowhere in particular ... just to have a look around. We drove along two lane paved roads which curved and wound around the hills until we reached the end of the line. There was a small hotel nearby so we hiked over to it to have a cold drink and enjoy the view of an almost desolate sandy beach. We hadn’t immediately noticed that our bus driver had parked the bus and was going in for a swim before continuing on his route. New Zealanders typically enjoy life and take time to smell the roses. 
Tramping (hiking) in the bush (forest) is another pastime they enjoy and I spent a beautiful and interesting afternoon with Rob Howard, a tour operator who owns Bush & Beach Ltd. Off we went in his van to the West Coast beaches and for a walk on the mysteriously mist covered black sand beach where The Piano was filmed. Typically, the west coast beaches have black sand and are ideal for surfing. Beaches on the east coast have calmer waters with light colored sand and are very safe for swimming and snorkeling. Later, I was given a choice of walking through the tourist-friendly paved trails that wind through the forest or tramping along through narrow dirt trails of the Waitakere Rainforest, thick with trees and bushes. I chose the later. Rob narrated an enlightening history of the region and pointed out a blue mushroom here and an ancient kauri tree there as we made our way through some tricky trails. This half day tour was personalized, interesting and a lot of fun. Bush & Beach Ltd., telephone (9) 478-2882.
During my stay in Auckland, I was a guest at the Quality Inn Rose Park, 100 Gladstone Road, Parnell. My room was spacious, comfortable and quiet. The Garden View Brasserie on the second floor of the hotel overlooked Waitemata Harbor and the Rose Gardens of Parnell, filled with more than 4,000 rose bushes covered with flowers of varying colors. The hotel was well situated midway between the downtown commercial area and Parnell, one of the oldest but trendiest neighborhoods of Auckland. Parnell was a cosmopolitan area with a variety of smart boutiques, antique shops and fine ethnic restaurants and cafes. It was here that I dined on succulent New Zealand lamb and freshly caught fish.