Day 5 - I Thought Kelly Tarlton Was A Country Singer

Awoke to a sunny day. Perfect.

Down to the eco cafe and full English with crushed fruit juice.

Explorer Bus

Chris suggests the Explorer bus trip. It is an all day bus ticket on the Explorer buses which traverse the City sights. We can hop on and off at any time and any place. Board bus outside our hotel and drive towards the market and down to the harbour and out around the bay. We alight at Kelly Tarlton’s (KTs) Antarctic Encounter & Underwater World. We are on the bay opposite Auckland, which gives the archetypical view of the Auckland skyline, dominated by the Sky Tower.

KTs is aimed at families, but is good fun for oldies like us. We take a ride on the replica Snow mobile train. Pat and Coleen are in the first car, camera crew follow in next snow cat. We traverse the Antarctic with penguins everywhere. They create 3 tonnes of snow per day to keep the environment as real as possible. Afterwards we go into the “underwater” tunnels where we are carried along on travelators as sharks, rays and other deep sea creatures slide past us in the water overhead and to the side. The glass tunnels give an impression that we are swimming in the water. Outside the tunnel we can watch the rays swimming to the surface of the “underwater world” and children are encouraged to stroke them. We go round the exhibition of sea life and finally emerge into the bright sunlight squinting like blinded moles. We wait at the bus stop and take in the view of Auckland city and harbour - breathtaking 

The Explorer bus takes us further on our tour and we stop at the Memorial Rose Gardens for photo shoots of roses and a walk in the park which stretches down to a bay (everywhere in Auckland is by the sea). It’s time for a beer/wine and there is a yuppie bar a few hundred yards from the rose garden entrance. It’s hot, probably 25C plus. We take a beer with hoity toity residents and professionals having their lunch. The lunch prices seem expensive for what is on offer, so we catch the Explorer to Parnell (and we thought the yuppie place was dear).

Parnell is the NZ equivalent of America's The Hamptons. Designer shops, boutique shops, solicitors’ offices and expensive restaurants - a sort of village within the city. We chose a restaurant which does meals for $15. Should have taken notice of the sign declaring it the Parnell restaurant of the year 2007 and 2008. The $15 meal was not really available, so we decided to catch the bus into the Harbour district. For all its standing it is a little insecure as it still declares a visit by American President Bill Clinton among its highlights.

Our trip back took in a major museum and beautiful park with views across the city. Auckland is a city best seen from afar or within its parks and waterways, as its centre is pretty plain once you duck down into its bland office blocks and  shopping  centres. We eat in a marina cafe overlooking the busy ferry terminal. Three of us had some sort of gluten based food and Coleen had a chips with mayonnaise, with beer and wine as usual. Good value and it filled a hole. Coleen befriended a dog (how unusual?).

After the late lunch we split up to do some shopping. We had a $20 challenge to buy each other a Christmas present. I also needed a replacement baseball cap as I had left mine on the bus, a regular event for me in NZ. The gift shops are run by Chinese and convenience stores by Indians, so no change there then.

Life doesn’t get much better than this, or does it?

Back at the hotel we fire up the mobile with its local SIM card and confirm our car hire for next morning. Good stuff this technology. Internet only works from a laptop in the rooms or $10 from hotel business centre. Not worth the effort as it is good to get a break from the web.

Evening meal is booked for the Observatory Restaurant 600 ft up the Sky Tower. We are ready early, for once and muster in the reception. Down into the bowels of the tower by escalator and mooch around the gift shop before boarding the lift. I do usual in looking at lots of naff stuff without seriously buying anything (it’s a man thing) while the women browse for presents even this early in the holiday (only 32 days to go!).

The lift has a glass wall and glass floor panel, which helps hype up the journey to the top. We exit the lift onto the observation deck and wander around, picking out landmarks and feeling slightly uncertain at this height. Chris and I get our photos taken standing on the glass floor that looks down into the street and hotel entrance below. Strangely, there is no feeling of height when looking down, but there is when you reach out to look over the window area.

Time for dinner. We are seated by a Chinese girl (they are everywhere) and order our drinks. Each table is placed 90 degrees to the glass side. People who don’t like the height as much can sit on the inside. The view is awesome. At our level is the “doughnut, a steel walkway about 10 feet out from the tower and about 3 feet wide. Thrill seekers can be wired to an overhead rail and walk around the tower at 600’. Some people lean out only supported by the cable. Scary!.

The air conditioning is set to arctic temperature, so cold the penguins at Kelly Tarlton's would have been at home.  The only thing missing is the 3 tonnes of ice needed for effect.

Wine is superb, food ordinary. Selection bland and little gluten free. Large range of mediocre food (this is what could be described as real “American Buffet”). Pile your plates with tasteless international cuisine. Let’s hope AJ Homestay is going to be a better dinner. The puddings were the best part of the meal, a long way behind the excellent wines.