Mercure Hotel Auckland

The flight landed at Auckland International around 4:45 am in the morning, and after the usual disembarking procedures, I took a super shuttle to my hotel to drop off my luggage and maybe check in. The weather was not too bad (low 50's I guess) considering it was the end of winter - early spring that time of year. The ride to my hotel, which was in the heart of the city of Auckland (called City Centre) was very quiet -- the other passengers on the shuttle bus were older guys, probably busines...

Nothing special in Auckland but the bus trip from Rotorua to Auckland was special. Must see the Glow worms cawe at Waitomo. It's unique.

Vanuit de bus had ik lange files gezien richting de noordelijke stranden vanwege het lange weekend dat de kiwi's voor de boeg hebben. Ik had al begrepen dat er zowel op vrijdag als op zondag een verbod is op het schenken van alcohol in bars en cafe's en eenmaal in Auckland bleek de hele binnenstad dan ook compleet uitgestorven te zijn. Bijna alles was gesloten, op de Starbucks en wat 24/7 supermarktjes na. Ik checkte in bij de Fat Camel, een hostel wat op het internet berucht is door zijn waa...

OK, so we know we've been a bit slow updating but as we've stated before New Zealand is really laid-back and we've been following the example. Being in the city centre gives you a lot to do, even if its just a walk around the shops or a stroll down to the harbour. It has also been flipflop weather, which we're guessing is better than the snow we've seen reported in England on the News. In order to best see the sights that Auckland has to offer, we took a tour on the Auckland Explorer bus. It ...

Today it was back on the bus, well we've got to get our monies worth. This time our first 'hop off' right was exercised at Bastion Point and Mission Bay lookout. A great place to get a good view of the city, ever recognisable by the sight of the Sky Tower off in the distance. A short walk, though down a steep hill, brought us out at Mission Bay. A lovely little stretch of shops and cafe's on one side and the beach on the other. Though the beach itself was not very wide, it stretched quite far...

Arrived in Auckland early in the morning. Got to the hotel not expecting to have a room yet, but they did! And it was a smoking room (nice for Gill)! Wandered down to the quayside, had food and glass of sparkling wine. More wandering found Albert Park near the university. Hotel room has a view of Sky Tower, saw someone jump off (on a bungy rope of course). Dinner back at quayside at Mecca a sort of turkish place. Followed by a nightcap at Occidental on Vulcan Street. Gill fizzy wine total : 3

Wine tasting trip in the morning. The guide was in a friends car as his was stolen the week before. He later smacked his head on the door when dropping us off and drew blood! Not a good week for him. First winery (West Brook) was in a great location and very friendly. Wine was great too, so bought a bottle of Pinot Noir. Visitied another winery (not so good), then went to Nobilo. Saw a 30 mile black sand beach on the west coast. Gill fizzy wine total : 4 (1 tasting glass at Nobilo).

Well we arrived in Auckland on our Air New Zealand flight.....which was pretty good!! Even though it was only 3hours we got a relatively good meal for airline food! Served on a plate and not these bowl things covered with foil! It was about half 8 at night when we arrived so we got the Express Bus link in to Auckland, we then found our hotel and checked in. We just stayed around the hotel on the first night, pretty central to all the nightlife (it was quite busy seeing as we had arrived on a ...

Hello everybody - Witamy wszystkich!

The final part if the road trip meant a brief but enjoyable 2 nights in Auckland. We met up with Jimmy & Ivana Monday evening, which was great. Drinks at Danny Doolans on Quay Street, then back to Jimmy's new pad for cards (& a little red wine)...

Time to head back to Wellington and start work came around too quickly. We left Auckland and drove along the rugged and beautiful East coast. A man at the Pinnacles Hut had told me about Mt...