Auckland

On the afternoon of the day we spent in Auckland, we took a ferry to Devonport, on the other side of the harbour. That was more of our field trip–to experience riding a ferry! This cruise ship was tied up to the dock near where the ferry docked.

There were also a lot of huge freight ships.

When we landed in Devonport, we started walking toward Mount Victoria. I quickly realized, though, that I wouldn’t make it much farther, as my sciatic nerve was playing up. Gayle and all the older children went up to the top, so these are Esther’s pictures. They saw this banyan tree along the way.

At the top is a gun bunker leftover from World War II.

A view of the Harbour, with Auckland on the other side and Devonport in the foreground.

Meanwhile, Mr. Imagination, Little Miss and Miss Joy stayed with me at a playground at sea level.

After the children played for a little while on the playground, they wanted to check out the beach, so we wandered over there.

I watched ferries go back and forth while the children played in the sand.

Mr. Imagination was delighted to find a crab in the rocks.

Soon it was time to return to Auckland. We went back to the ferry dock and watched it come in, then boarded.

We noticed several Navy ships tied up on the other side of the harbour.

When we reached Auckland again, we caught the train and returned to Drury.

Most of us were dreading our trip into Auckland to take care of government business. It wasn’t the meeting with the United States Consulate that we were afraid of; it was navigating the Auckland traffic and finding parking in the CBD. We were delighted to learn from our friends at Drury that we could take the train! The first station on the rail line was about a five-minute drive from where we were staying, and if we bought the cards used for Auckland public transport, we wouldn’t have to pay as much as if we bought tickets–and, as well, we could use the cards to take a ferry across the Auckland Harbour to Devonport! It cost more to take all nine of us on the train than if we had driven… but remember the thing about parking? No brainer. We counted it as a field trip–learn how to use public transport. The train ride was about an hour; a train leaves approximately every 10 minutes throughout the day, and the end of the line was a five-minute walk from our destination.

This was later in the day, when we caught the train again to go a short distance in central Auckland. It was very helpful to learn that there was a $20 cap on charges for the day–no matter how much we used the buses, trains, or ferries in the city, we wouldn’t be charged more than that. I don’t know how that works now, since fares went up a few days after we were there, but that’s how it was that day.

This country girl was rather impressed with the tall buildings!

We walked through a park at the top of the hill not too far from the Consulate. It was a beautiful day!

I was intrigued by this palm tree with another tree growing out of the top of it!

Our first glimpse of the Sky Tower.

Next, we walked over a bridge across a highway and up a steep path through another public garden.

We stopped halfway up for a rest, and ate the apricots I had bought the day before.

At the top, we reached the Auckland War Memorial Museum.

This window is in the roof, three floors up from the entry area.

We found this piece of shell artwork quite fascinating.

Miss Joy was delighted to discover these drawers of specimens. She wanted to open and inspect every one! I was so hungry and tired by then that I just wanted to move on, but we stayed for a little while for her.

This is the view from the front door.

When we left the museum, we walked back into the commercial district to look for some food. Because we were using public transport that day, I decided not to take a lunch along as we normally would, since we had only three backpacks with which to carry things. We were looking for fish and chips, but Elijah decided he wanted something nicer and offered to pay the difference. We ended up at a small, family-run Thai restaurant, and really enjoyed that treat. It was a great place to rest, delicious food, and large portions, and we were happy to help support a family. (It added to the field trip for the day–most of our younger children had never been in a sit-down restaurant!)

From here, we walked to a nearby train station and took the train back to where we had started that morning in the CBD, then took a ferry across the harbour to Devonport–that’s a post for another day.