Day 17 - Sunday 21 January 2024

I've shifted another couple of time zones over in the last 24 hours, so I'm back to waking up dead early again (although not as early as the first few mornings)! Still, it gave me the opportunity to review yesterdays blog and vlog with a clear head before publishing! I've also gone from being behind the UK to being ahead of the UK thanks to crossing the International Date Line, so that's a bit of mental juggling I need to factor into the next few days until I get used to it.

The plan for today is to have a proper explore of Auckland on foot; I need to understand where I get picked up for the two things I have booked in the forthcoming days, and I want to get some footage that I can add to the blog and vlog!

My car pickup time on Wednesday has been changed to 09:00, so I'll need to be on the 08:30 SkyDrive bus to be at the airport around then.

I had a video chat with Mum this morning (last evening in the UK), it's so much better than a phone call, even though the delay was just enough to make it a little odd at times.

I left the hotel at just before 10:00, and already it was a really hot day. I headed over a couple of blocks to Queen Street, which seems to be the main shopping street in Auckland; en route I found a coffee stall in an air conditioned food court for breakfast which was excellent. 

I ended up down at the waterfront wharves, and located where I'll need to be for my ferry to Rangitoto Island tomorrow, and also for my city tour the day after. Then a bit of exploration and when I found myself at the base of the Sky Tower I decided to look into The All Blacks Experience and also the Weta Workshop Unleashed ..... they were both in the same building on adjacent floors, and I ended up on the 12:00 All Blacks Experience tour.

The Bledisloe cup, contested between New Zealand and Australia

This gave us an overview of the All Blacks history and players; they have a design that's an unending river through the pattern on which are named all of the players who have been All Blacks with their number. We had an American lady on the tour who's uncle has been an All Black, and they managed to find his name and number in the pattern for her. We also learned about the attitude of the All Blacks which has allowed such a small population to have extended success, and all about the Haka ..... we even faced a recording of both the All Black and Silver Fern haka on a life sized screen. Although is was a recording and isn't going to feel like facing it in real life before battle, it was still intimidating. 

After this, I had a look upstairs at the Weta Workshop shop and lobby area; there were the three trolls from The Hobbit, Azog the Orc, and Gollum lifesize models.

Back to the hotel at around 14:00 as it is very hot here. I found some nice looking places to eat while I was wandering that aren't too far away, so I'll see what takes my fancy this evening. I must remember to get some snacks for the hike up the volcano tomorrow.  

Out to the local Chinese takeaway for dinner, and the portion size here is somewhat larger than the UK; I had chicken in a sweet and spicy sauce, which was great ..... and will probably be as good for breakfast when I heat it up in the microwave in the morning! I have a 10.30 ferry tomorrow, so no great rush to be out and about!