Copthorne Auckland

... round the park roads, we then had a quick look in the museum, which was of course dedicated to NZ stuff in general and Auckland stuff in particular. Quite interesting and I got to see a some Kiwis and Kakapos (alas stuffed). With rush hour starting we got ...

Such a lovely city.  The harbour is delightful, similar to Sydney in that it has many bays but much smaller and a lot less skyscrapers. Richard was very impressed with the Skytower. It stands 328mtrs with views of over 80km in all directions. It's ...

... wasnt much oncoming traffic at that time. So back to the nasty room to sleep......... Next morning, we booked into the Copthorne Hotel, overlooking the harbour, before taking the boat to Waiheke Island. The trip was stunning - Auckland is surrounded by ...

... down to the Viaduct Harbour - this time armed with a camera. Walking from Anzac Avenue (which borders the Univeristy of Auckland) it was a leisurely stroll down to Queen Street which is the main shopping street in Auckland. After a little window shopping ...

... met een 'A' erin. Komt me bekend voor. Welke stad was er eerst met de ik ben zot van 'A' campagne ? Door de verkenningstocht van Auckland zijn de voetjes afgesleten tot aan de knietjes, Ik zal dus zoals zo vaak als een blok in slaap vallen. Oh nog een ...

... the great service we had last year and I think it's fair to say there wasn't any disappointment there. Arriving at Auckland International Airport in the early afternoon we had a quick trip through customs and immigration. Our car rental company picked us ...

... at Warkworth again for some more Moki and kumara and I think this is where time began to slip away from us. Reached Auckland harbour bridge around 3.00pm and headed toward the airport when we ran into every school in Auckland emptying their contents to ...

... aircraft 'asleep' and the only way I knew was by following the aircraft's track on the TV monitor. I Eventually we landed at Auckland and first impressions were how small it was compared to not just Hong Kong, but even puny Manchester. Bearing in mind ...

... yummy).  We got to sample some wonderful New Zealand wine (which is probably why I went right to sleep). Arriving in Auckland airport however was a nightmare.  We fly 11,371 km to spend forever getting through customs.  We arrive to see ...

Left Auckland took Route 1 north to the Northlands. The scenery was nice- very textured and all shades of green. We saw the first of many sheep farms- we also saw horses and cows. I never saw so many cows sitting down-I though they stood almost all the ...

... and of course a view of the harbour everywhere.  From this side of the harbour we get a great view of the SkyTower in Auckland.  We explore the pathways for about an hour before we head back to the main part of the city to find food.  We ...

... service, great New Zealand wine and amazing seafood.  Al has the Blackened Roughy, I have Seared Salmon.  An amazing Pavlova for dessert - all is well in the Southern Hemisphere.  Tomorrow we will get serious about exploring ...

... thing. We met Chloe at the airport bus stop, picked up the car and set out for The Bay  of Islands , north of Auckland. Ian had found this rather nice bed and breakfast place in Russell which is a lovely place. Very twee| Tomorrow boat trip and ...

... , Kirsty. p.s The runner guy Chris turned out fine - he wasn't a mad man & was normal!  He actually lived in Copthorne for a short while & Heathrow.  Small world eh?! Now I have someone to go jogging with regularly, which is ...

What a beautul country!  We did so much today it felt like we have been here for two.  Please see the pictures we downloaded of day one.  We will try and write a proper blog in the next few days.  We are getting up early but ...

Well today dawned bright and… pouring with rain. Apparently this is very atypical weather for this time of year and all the Kiwi's are moaning about it. You can tell they are unprepared just by the number of people getting wet on the streets. As ...

... had left the wallet in the room.  I had realised that I had left the documents behind at 3:00 a.m. whilst at the Copthorne Hotel.  As we were returning the Langham on Sunday night I requested they hold the documents at reception for me to ...

... stop at the entrance to the harbour at the huge sand dunes to pick up a passenger. We settled in at the Hokianga Copthorne Hotel & Resort and fortunately as platinum members we were given the better accommodation in the new section of the ...