On our last day in Auckland, friends Marlene and Jude took us on a tour of Auckland’s neighborhoods and shorelines.
We started at Nosh, an Eden Park gourmet market where Marlene and Jude enjoy the $100 flat white coffees. Fact is, the coffees are affordable … but by the time you make your way back to the coffee shop, your arms will be laden with gourmet peanut butters, local veggies, imported wines, and fresh-baked pastries.
After a coffee, we headed out to some of Auckland’s more well-appointed residential streets. There’s something exquisite about the older, more established neighborhoods in Auckland. Once, these were the places where laborers and merchants lived. Today, the tidy homes with their gracious porches and Victorian gingerbread have been outfitted with bay windows and surrounded by well-tended gardens. The result: these shady lanes have a distinctively Kiwi look and feel (apart, that is, from the bulky, modern monstrosities that a few out-of-touch builders have thrown up on the occasional open lot).
After seeing these (and getting inspiration for paint colors for an upcoming update to the Eden Park B&B), we drove along the coast line, taking in the sights along the way, from the vistas along the bays and beaches to the multi-million dollar homes perched on the hills above. We wound up at Princes Warf, where our ship, the Volendam, was docked and waiting … and after hugs and goodbyes, we made our way aboard.
We were last on the Volendam on our first cruise to Alaska. It’s still quite nice, but, frankly, it’s in need of a redo. The colors and fixtures scream 1992, and the carpets and wall treatments are, in places, frayed and worn. But the crew is still amazing — learning and remembering our names instantly, locking onto our tastes in drinks, noting the peculiarities of our diets. How do they do it, with the entire population changing every two weeks?
With plenty of time left in port, we headed back out to Auckland for one last stroll around the Central Business District. We wound up at the SkyTower, where we paid a pretty reasonable $28 NZD a head to ride the glass elevators up to the observation deck at the tippy-top. The views are incredible, and I confess walking on the little sections of glass flooring made me feel unreasonably jumpy. (“You’ll fall!” my lizard brain kept screaming. “You’ll slip right through!”)
After Cokes and chips, we rode back down, walked back to the boat, enjoyed drinks around the pool, and enjoyed our first dinner: chicken stuffed with sausage dressing, crisp potatoes, and a slice of red velvet cake.
Afterward, right before bed, I spotted myself in the cabin mirrors and decided things have gone too far. So: today, I’m back on my plan — and I’m sticking to it for the rest of the week, at least. The food’s great, but it’s not worth becoming Jabba the Hut again!
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