Auckland Feb22-26
Accommodation certainly lived up to its name of Princeton Budget Hotel. Really a student block, with certain rooms let to unsuspecting tourists such as ourselves. It was clean however, and on lots of bus routes, which had advantages. We had a 2 bed apartment, one bedroom with a huge bed (mine!) , the other with 2 singles, a very small galley kitchen & a shower room. Getting all our luggage up to the 10th floor was quite an effort, & we swore that the whole building swayed in the wind, quite disconcerting.
Our stay was strange, in that Tricia, from being the dominant personality in our triumvirate, became very uncertain of herself and seemed dependent on me, until my sister Hilary arrived anyway, to lead the way. She & the other Hilary (to be known as Hils now!) wanted to spend a great deal of time each day writing emails, & were reluctant to spend any money at all. I felt they wasted an opportunity to see some of the attractions which Auckland has to offer, though I understood the reasons. They have another 6 months plus ‘on the road’ & needed to budget accordingly. Apart from our trip to see off the QE2, we did nothing exciting until my sister arrived on the Saturday, in order to celebrate my birthday. We went out that evening (in the pouring rain) for a meal in Viaduct basin, which is expensive but it is the centre of the tourist bit .
On Sunday 26th, I decided I would like to see the terracotta Warriors exhibition in the Sky Tower, which we all went to, though Tricia doesn’t like ‘museums’ & came somewhat reluctantly. I think she did enjoy it, & we were all absolutely amazed at the size of the casino in the Tower. By the evening the weather had cleared a little, & although we would have liked to hear Dame Kiri te Kanawa in the Domain, as part of the Symphony in the Park, we decided, along with a great many other people, to go to the Lantern festival in Albert Park instead. We left quite early, and unfortunately missed the later fireworks, but we left because neither Tricia nor Hils liked all the crowds, & Hils’ feet hurt.
Accommodation certainly lived up to its name of Princeton Budget Hotel. Really a student block, with certain rooms let to unsuspecting tourists such as ourselves. It was clean however, and on lots of bus routes, which had advantages. We had a 2 bed apartment, one bedroom with a huge bed (mine!) , the other with 2 singles, a very small galley kitchen & a shower room. Getting all our luggage up to the 10th floor was quite an effort, & we swore that the whole building swayed in the wind, quite disconcerting.
Our stay was strange, in that Tricia, from being the dominant personality in our triumvirate, became very uncertain of herself and seemed dependent on me, until my sister Hilary arrived anyway, to lead the way. She & the other Hilary (to be known as Hils now!) wanted to spend a great deal of time each day writing emails, & were reluctant to spend any money at all. I felt they wasted an opportunity to see some of the attractions which Auckland has to offer, though I understood the reasons. They have another 6 months plus ‘on the road’ & needed to budget accordingly. Apart from our trip to see off the QE2, we did nothing exciting until my sister arrived on the Saturday, in order to celebrate my birthday. We went out that evening (in the pouring rain) for a meal in Viaduct basin, which is expensive but it is the centre of the tourist bit .
On Sunday 26th, I decided I would like to see the terracotta Warriors exhibition in the Sky Tower, which we all went to, though Tricia doesn’t like ‘museums’ & came somewhat reluctantly. I think she did enjoy it, & we were all absolutely amazed at the size of the casino in the Tower. By the evening the weather had cleared a little, & although we would have liked to hear Dame Kiri te Kanawa in the Domain, as part of the Symphony in the Park, we decided, along with a great many other people, to go to the Lantern festival in Albert Park instead. We left quite early, and unfortunately missed the later fireworks, but we left because neither Tricia nor Hils liked all the crowds, & Hils’ feet hurt.
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