Sights of the City

We visited the National Museum to learn the history of the city  and the Maori culture. New Zealanders or Kiwi really showed an appreciation and reverence for the Maori culture that has shaped modern day Auckland.

A fascinating thing about the New Zealand region. The beautiful landscape of this country is due in a large part to the fertile soil left behind by long ago volcanic eruptions. I don't recall seeing "active volcano" field in the travel brochure.

A Maori meeting house. The intricate carvings on this house and other Maori artifacts displayed in the museum were awe inspiring.

 The Ferry Building was built in 1912 in an Edwardian Baroque style. It is the focal point for commuter ferries and is located by Queen's Wharf.

The Viaduct Harbor is a former industrial district that was a part of an extensive waterfront renovation in the 1990s.

Viaduct Harbor was the home base for the yachts that participated in the 1999 and 2002 America's Cup.

Auckland's Sky Tower is a tourist, broadcasting and telecommunications facility.

It stands 1,076 ft and is the tallest tower in the southern hemisphere.

Sky Tower silhouette in a downtown skyscraper. This tower can be seen from vantage points all over the city.

Auckland is known as the City of Sails and has the greatest number of pleasure boats per capita of any city in the world.

 

This house is part of a mile of Auckland's most expensive real estate. It overlooks a beach with the city as a backdrop.

More of the "million dollar mile". I should coin that phrase. One of these houses recently sold for $20 million.

This was a nice Israeli restaurant called IMAs that we tried. It had a very cool and chic decor. The decor reminded me of Amelies in Charlotte. A lot of the restaurants had automatic sliding glass doors that are more common in retail in the U.S.

We tried the lamb and the chicken.

I loved the unique light fixtures in the restaurant. The fixture in this picture utilizes repurposed cheese grates. They also managed to get the mismatch assortment of chairs to work in capturing their eclectic vibe.

Tea cup chandelier

The interior designer for IMAs didn't reserve all of her creativity for light fixtures.

Lebanese Lamb Shoulder

Chicken Meschan

Family style sides that come with the order.

The Parnell neighborhood is reportedly Bill Clinton's favorite place in Auckland. I can see why. The neighborhood is a cool arts and entertainment district. It's also the oldest neighborhood in Auckland. It reminds me of No Da in Charlotte.

We mailed my Mom's birthday card from here. That wasn't the original plan but the card hitched a ride overseas in my backpack. It was a few days late, but at least it had a cool New Zealand postmark.

This was a great little restaurant that we found off the beaten path in the Parnell neighborhood.

This is the alley that led us to the quaint little restaurant. It's a good thing that they advertise on the main street.

We had the place to ourselves. That was by no means an indictment on the food.

A nice little courtyard framed the restaurant. The owner was Italian and said that he was aiming for an Italian villa ambiance. He nailed it.

We had a nice, private lunch in a romantic setting.

I had the lunch special. It was as good as it looks.

Crystal had the soup. It was yummy according to her.

On our way to Sydney, Australia. We took a "travelator" in the airport. You might know it as a moving sidewalk.

The Air New Zealand plane in the foreground has the logo for the New Zealand All Blacks national rugby team. New Zealanders are fanatics for their rugby. The merchandise was everywhere and the rugby games dominated the TV broadcasts. We're taking the smaller Qantas plane to Australia and looking forward to the next adventurous leg of our trip.