DAY 44-AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND

 Our position today, Sunday, is docked at the Queens Wharf right next to downtown Auckland.  We can basically walk off the ship and are at the downtown area.  We do not have a tour today as I did not see any I thought would be good.  It is in the upper 70's temperature wise with occasional rain showers passing by.

BACKGROUND:
        We are docked right across from downtown Auckland today.  This is the end of another segment of the cruise so losing some passengers and gaining new ones.  This is our second of three stops on the North Island of New Zealand.  Auckland is the largest and most populous urban area of the country with 1.5 million people or 32% of New Zealand’s population living here.  It also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world but Europeans still dominate.  Auckland is one of the few cities in the world that has two harbors on two separate bodies of water:  Manukau Harbor on the Tasman Sea and Waitemata Harbor on the Pacific Ocean.
        As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, Russell was the first capital of New Zealand.  The capital was moved to here in Auckland in 1841.  But the capital was moved again in 1865 to Wellington because of its closer proximity to the South Island.  
        Most major international corporations have offices in Auckland.  It is the largest commercial center in NZ.  Wages are high and so is the cost of living.  It has also benefited from tourism as 75% of the country’s visitors arrive at the international airport here.  The port is the second largest of the country and is a major cruise ship port of call.
        It’s summers are warm and humid with winters being mild and damp.  It is one of the most affordable cities world-wide to live in but housing costs are expensive.  Easily seen on the city’s skyline is the Sky Tower, the tallest free-standing structure in the Southern Hemisphere.  The views are excellent from this 1076 foot tall tower.  Auckland is also called, the “City of Sails”, because of the popularity of sailing.  There are 135,000 yachts and boats registered here.  About 1 in 3 households owns a boat.

YESTERDAY:

After our tour yesterday, we were both in need of a nap.  It was very pleasant out on the balcony.

 WHAT WE DID TODAY:

         This is the view we have today from our balcony.  Sucks!!!

         I went up on the top deck to take these photos of downtown Auckland.

This is the World cruise ship.  On this ship you buy your stateroom and live on the ship just like you would a condo.

                           These are the ferries that run across the bay.

       I did not get out of bed until after 9:00 am.  My neck was bothering me all night.  I finally got up and showered before coming to the coffee connection for my coffee and muffin.  I ran into Davor, the General Manager, and told him I would have gone to see the doctor this morning if she had office hours.  Well, he called her and asked if she was available.  She was in her office so I went to see her. She is a character.  She is very straight forward and says exactly what is on her mind.  She told me to not act like a old man and go enjoy the tours, exercise, and do whatever I wanted to.  I had previously been diagnosed with some arthritis in my neck area last year.  She thinks I need to exercise it.  So she gave me a steroid shot and some more muscle relaxant/pain pills.  I have been sitting here in coffee connection working on this blog and moving my head around.  Now I have a lot of pain!  Not sure what to do.
       We had lunch with Susanne in Compass Rose.  I really enjoyed some pan fried fresh grouper and Rebecca had a chicken Caesar salad.  By the time lunch was over the shot I received had kicked in and I was not feeling any pain so we decided to walked into town and try to find some salonpas patches at a pharmacy.  Thought they might be good for my neck pain.

 They were busy loading provisions on board.  It was a massive provisioning day.

       Crew members can always find a free internet place.  Everyone seated are from our ship.  The ferry terminal is just next door and that had free internet.

 Really not much of interest to take photos of as Auckland downtown is just like any other downtown.  All the stores were open even though it was Sunday.  Lots of people walking today.  We were really surprised as more than half of the people were Asians.  I asked and they were locals not tourists.  Lots of American stores both department and food.

                                               The Sky Tower

       We were back on board by 2:30.  Unfortunately, we did not find any salonpas patches today.  I headed to coffee connection to finish this blog post.  At 5:45 this evening we will have another emergency life boat drill for both everyone, new and old.  So we will wait to dress for dinner until after that is over.  Susanne will be joining us for dinner as Chef Michael will be preparing french fried soft shell crabs for us.  Another movie tonight instead of a show.  It is "A Month of Sundays" and I think Rebecca wants to see it.
       We will be sailing tonight at 7:00 pm for our next port, Tauranga, where we will be docking at 8:30 tomorrow morning.  We have a tour tomorrow and it should be interesting one for photos.