Auckland

It feels great to be back at the ship with the rest. We had some wonderful days together, and today we are in Sydney.

After a flight of 9 hours and 15 minutes, we arrived in the land of Hobbit and Lord of the rings. If you are a fan, you should look up the safety video they show onboard Air New Zealand…

It is by the way very strict regulations on what you can bring into New Zealand, and apple in your purse can give you a fine of 400 NZ dollar.

We arrived early in the morning, and could not check in at the hotel until 2 o`clock, so we left our suitcases at the hotel, went for a walk and eventually joined a hop on hop off bus.

From our experience taking these buses is the quickest way to get the overview on what is worth seeing when you come to a new place with limited time.

Auckland are having their summer right now, so temperature was good. When we landed we felt that the landscape reminded us Norway, and in the shops we felt we were back in Europe

When it came to the level of service. No more American hospitality and smiles, but back to the colder, European distance….

We asked a taxi driver how it is to live there, and in his own words (and language) he said it`s “very relaxable”.

In the evening we went to Auckland`s famous tower for dinner. The view is spectacular, and if you dare, you can jump down from the tower (it takes you 11 seconds).

Not for us, we enjoyed a nice meal instead.

If you go there, do make a reservation for a meal at the restaurant, food is good, view amazing, and a ticket up cost you 28 NZ, but if you eat for 40  a ticket is included…

Next day we couldn`t wait to join the ship and to meet up with the others. Finally back on board, we decided to go to the aquarium. It`s the nicest I have been to in my life.

And as we were looking at the Penguins we hear “Heia Norge” and there was a family from Bodø. World is both big and small at the same time.

From the port till the aquarium there is a free shuttle bus. It is easy to recognize it…

We left Auckland, and headed towards Bay of Island that was our next stop the following day.