Welcome to the City of Sails...

... aka Auckland. There are more boats per capita than anywhere else in the world, and given that this city has about a third of the country’s population, that’s a lot of money floating around on the water!

Auckland sits on 50 dormant or extinct volcanoes and our legs have certainly been getting a good workout as we explored the area. The skyline is dominated by the Sky Tower, at 328m high it’s the tallest tower in the southern hemisphere and houses restaurants, bars, casinos and a theatre. Up on the Sky Deck you can see up to 80kms away (apparently)

We visited the National Maritime Museum and saw the history of NZ as well as some excellent presentations on the Louis Vuitton Cup and America’s Cup races. We went for a sail around Waitemata harbour aboard their heritage sailing ship and out under the Auckland Harbour Bridge

The following day we took the ferry to Devonport, home of the NZ Navy. We took a tour of the Military museum and learnt about the country’s naval heritage. We walked up to North Head, explored the gun emplacements which were aimed at thwarting various invasions that never came and some of the underground tunnels

There were also fantastic views across the bay back to the mainland.

We also went across to Waiheke Island where the scenery is breathtaking and winemaking origins date back to 1970s.

The climate is likened to Bordeaux, although it was a wet and blustery day which blew the cobwebs away as we walked between a few of the 30 wineries. Here are a couple of the locals making use of the inclement weather...

Tomorrow we pick up our motorhome and start our journey north into the unknown.

PS - I had hoped to post this from Auckland before we left, but the connection fell over so it's a week late