Wednesday 21st November
So exciting! I arrived at the viewing point by Auckland
airport just in time to witness the massive Emirates A380 touch down on the
runway. I thought it would be best for me to be
waiting right by the entrance of arrivals for when the weary traveller trudged
through the sliding doors. I had a fresh steaming coffee all ready for her but
by the time Becks got through customs it was more of a tepid stewed brew. Luckily,
that’s how she likes it! You would hardly know she’d been travelling for over
24-hours. Becks was her normal bubbly chatty self. I couldn’t wait to start
showing off the country.
First stop was back home for some lunch and to let her get
settled into the guest room. I was happy to take it as easy as Becks wanted, but
she opted to keep moving. Nothing too strenuous though. Despite the weather
warnings we headed off to Miranda hot springs for the afternoon. I thought that
would be the ideal way for Becks to relax and unwind after the longest flight
you can do. I think there were about six
other people there? It was lovely and just as it was getting too hot in there,
it started raining to cool us off slightly. We lazed around the edge of the
pool discussing what the upcoming fortnight had in store.
We returned home to meet up with Simon after work and have dinner before making some more last-minute online bookings care of
bookme.co.nz! Including for the very next day......
Thursday 22nd November - Whale watch
There was no rush this morning. Amazingly, Becks seemed to
sleep well and felt refreshed today. She
is a fine example to tell our other UK pals about how easy the journey over
here is! We drove into the city late
morning and had a gentle stroll around the harbour before heading to the
meeting point by the maritime museum for our 130pm sailing with Auckland Whale
and Dolphin Safari. 
Being our third whale-watching cruise together we were
fully prepared – not only for the temperature out at sea but also for the
waiting. And watching. And waiting. Staring out into the blue looking for any
signs of a break in the surface or the spray of a whale’s breath. They tried to
keep us entertained with some onboard research, for example using this white
disc submerged to calculate the density of the algae in the water:
But we
started the inevitable discussion… if you don’t get to see a single marine
mammal you get given a ‘rain check’, the opportunity to return for another go
for free. At least that may mean that Simon would get a chance to have a trip
out?!
Suddenly, our luck changed and we got the opportunity to
watch not only one Brydes whale (pronounced ‘Brewders’ but spelt that way cos
it’s Norwegian) but one with a calf by its side!
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| Our first fin in the distance.... |
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| Getting closer.... |
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| Two for one! Mum and calf by her side... |
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| My favourite shot of the day... |
We spent as long as possible
watching them before the boat had to spin around to start heading back to port.
And then we couldn’t stop finding whales! One went right underneath us. Didn’t
get to see any dolphins today though…
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| Navy operations practise to entertain us on our way back to the City |
We were slightly late back to shore but it was still a
beautiful day to enjoy having dinner around the harbour. It gave me hope
that the entire week of bad weather predicted for the next seven days was
wrong?!
To try and squeeze another experience into the day I
suggested trying to get some height. We
drove to Cornwall Gardens to obtain a sunset view but we reached the gates at
802pm… just after they closed at 8! Oh well, we started to walk to the peak
before realising it would be pitch black by the time we got up there! This view
would have to do:
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| Sunset at Cornwall Gardens |
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