Hyatt Regency - Auckland

We arrived in Auckland around 1PM - right on time. Getting though immigration was a breeze. You can definitely sense that there is a lot less people here on the road and everywhere we went. The customs was pretty strict and they reinforced the message about bringing food into the country (probably too many Asians trying to break the rules like in the US). We had a version of the New Zealand map on the phone and the GPS worked really well. We found the hotel in no time. At first driving on the...

We spent a lovely Christmas in Auckland with my parents. It was strange staying in a hotel but a welcome change. We stayed at the lovely Hyatt (what a breakfast) and the service and BEDS were fantastic after sleeping in sponges for so long! The city was pretty quiet while we were there so we just relaxed and enjoyed the amazing food. We ate in two restaurants on the harbour Euro and Kermadec Seafood (xmas). So it was Christmas dinner with a difference this year.

Monday, March 7, 2005 Departure for NZ was fairly uneventful, except for almost missing our flight from LAX to AUCK. Neville got caught up in a typical United Airlines mess and had to run back and forth between Terminal 6 and Terminal 2 at LAX (not a short feat) to straighten things out. Meanwhile my blood pressure was skyrocketing because I was sure we would miss the flight. We were one of the last to board, but thankfully made it just in the nick of time. Although we were in the 'back of th...

arrived in Auckland around 5.pm . great hotel good location. Had dinner there that night. Philippa and Conor arrived in at 6am . So good to see them both after all this time. Had a lovely Christmas breakfast great atmosphere in hotel, everyone dressed up for the occasion. Exchanged presents then went to Mass in St.Patricks cadtheral. Lovely Mass with beautiful singing. Weather beautiful, went for walk in park beside hotel. Had our Christmas dinner in fab place overlooking the harbour, again w...

1st: 12-14 Dec 2008

actually I'm to lazy to write anything... haha

Enjoy the pictures though...

After 36 straight hours of travel, it was more relief than nerves to touch down in Auckland. I felt very comfortable too, the airport is pristine and customs a breeze. They even have a kiosk with free tea and coffee for arrivals - why can't we do that? I'm becoming a new fan of brewed tea, it's so refreshing! I left Tampa without a reservation for my first night's stay, and decided in LA to go ahead and ease in to "Budget Travel" with the excuse that it was such a long trip on my own. I went ...

Day Two - I was ready to start tackling more of my Auckland Must See list. After walking around the day before, I was comfortable with where I wanted to go and fairly sure how to get there. I grabbed brekky, aka breakfast, at a cafe by the hotel and headed to the harbor. One of the goals for this trip is to test out my "trekking" skills and decided to visit one of the volcanic islands just off of Auckland. I took the ferry to Rangitoto Island, which doubled as a harbor cruise, as I was able t...

Early start of 5.30am as we collected Bek (Dan's good friend from Bedford) at the airport but were treated to breakfast at the Hyatt where her parents, George and Jenny, were staying. George had determined the route plan for their 3 week tour of NZ which started with a trip up to the north of the north island, to 90 mile beach. He had estimated a trip time of 2hrs 05...so off we all set. About 6 hrs later we arrived there, to enjoy the beach and a good sunset. A great catch-up and late evenin...