Day Six … exploring Auckland

We had a leisurely start today, not leaving our hotel until about 8.21. Ian had been aiming for us to head out at 8.30 but we were up, ready and organised so we decided to head off early, which turned out to be a good thing because we couldn’t find where Ian had parked the car last night in the multi deck car park beneath Sky City! So after about 10-15 minutes of retracing our steps several times back to the lifts and out searching … back to the lifts and repeat … we finally found her and were then on our way to our first stop.

We were booked in to climb the Auckland Bridge today and were the first group of climbers of the day. The Auckland Bridge is modelled on the Sydney Harbour Bridge but is smaller. There were four of us in the climb group, so once we were kitted out in our safety gear, and with our guide Danyon, we headed off. The whole climb took about an hour and a half and during this time we walked under the bridge, in the bridge pylons, to the other side of the harbour, and over the top of the bridge. Danyon provided excellent commentary along the way on the bridge construction, modifications to the bridge, number of workers and road traffic maintenance. Part way through the climb we got to stop and watch the bungy jumpers - a large group from Melbourne. It confirmed that I will NEVER bungy jump! We also got to watch the amazing machine that comes along to move the road barriers to change lane directions dependent on traffic flow. It was a great experience and despite the light drizzle and foggy outlook we absolutely loved it.

After our climb we embarked on the rest of our day, which was to be filled with gardens and parks around Auckland. We started at Eden Garden, which is a garden established by volunteers in a disused quarry. The land was purchased by a local philantropist back in 1964 and gifted to the city. At that time the quarry was filled with rubbish, old cars and equipment. The 5.5 hectare site is now a beautiful rambling garden with a waterfall, river, small hidden nooks, lookouts and garden beds filled with plants. You can also choose to use the gardens as your final resting place … ❤️

Driving to our next stop - Cornwall Park at One Tree Hill - we stopped quickly to grab some lunch at a local bakery - pies and a toasted panini which we were then able to sit and enjoy when we arrived at the park. The park is a beautiful sprawling piece of land - it is huge and is spread over 400 acres. There are walking paths, old buildings, a small Kauri forest, rambling stairs, a grotto and an observatory. We drove around the park and stopped and walked sections as well. There was a cool Ad Lab there so we used that to help us find the hidden gems of the park. We contemplated the steep climb to the very top of One Tree Hill to the obelisk but after getting to about half way we decided to abandon it so we could move on to our next pit stop.

We then drove to Bastion Point and to the Michael Joseph Savage Memorial. This was built in recognition of Savage who was the first Labour Prime Minister of New Zealand. It is located on a hill overlooking Waitemata Harbour where guns once stood during the 1880s Russian Scare. The beautifully manicured and symmetrical gardens were stunning as were the views from the memorial. We completed another Ad Lab whilst we were there before driving along Tamaki Drive where I think the price of real estate would be pretty high as the views over the harbour were incredible and the houses looked like McMansions!

Out final stop for today was to visit the Dove Myer Robinson Park, the site of the Parnell Rose Gardens. These gardens were free to access and contained rows and rows of garden beds bursting with roses of every colour, type and size. I had brought a scarf that belonged to my mum with me on this holiday so that she could be with me for different parts of our journey and today was the day that I wore it for the first time. She would have loved the rose gardens, and much like my father would have done for her - Ian sat patiently on a garden seat waiting for me to take photo after photo of the glorious blooms.

So we then headed back to Sky City and thought we would check to see if our dinner reservation at the Orbit Restaurant would allow us to access the Sky Tower. We were rapt to be told that we could indeed go up and view the city, so quickly dashed back to our room to grab a charging brick because after three gardens the battery on my phone was reduced to a measly 13%. The views from the tower were fantastic and it was great to be able to point out places we had been, roads we had driven on, and where we would stay when we return to Auckland in a week’s time.

Our day has ended late tonight as we have just returned to our room following an amazing dinner in the Orbit 360 restaurant. This is on the 52nd level of the Sky Tower and revolves making one rotation about every hour. So we enjoyed an incredible three course meal looking our over Auckland, watching the city go from daylight, to sunset to the city lights turning on. A wonderful, if indulgent way to end the day.

PS … this was our only shocker for the day!