I’m back! And that means it’s time to bore you all with tales from my New Zealand trip. Sorry, not sorry 😉
We landed at Auckland airport at around 11 a.m. on 20th March, but by the time we’d got through passport control, collected our bags, done the security thing and my cousin, who had come to pick us up (so many thanks for that!), had driven us into town, it was afternoon. We quickly showered at the hotel then walked down Queen’s Street (the main shopping street) to jump on a ferry to Devonport, where my cousin lives.
Originally a fishing village, Devonport is now a suburb of Auckland city. It’s located on the North Shore, so to get there you either have to drive over the harbour bridge (incredibly annoying at rush hour!) or take a ferry. I certainly wouldn’t mind using the ferry for my daily commute!
While we waited for my cousin (who had gone to her boyfriend’s while we freshened up), we had a walk around the wharf area and watched the seagulls and other birds that were gathered around.
Once my cousin arrived, she took us for a drive around Devonport, up the various hills (which are actually volcanoes) and then for dinner at her local pub, The Patriot. I can’t remember which photos were taken from where, so here are just all of them. Views from North Head and Mount Victoria:
At dinner, we had our first taste of Kumara, the New Zealand sweet potato that the Maoris brought with them from Polynesia, and also tried our first New Zealand beers. At around 9 p.m. we decided it was probably time to get moving since my cousin had to work the next day and we had another flight to catch – to the South Island, where we would be spending the next five days. After a ferry ride back to Auckland City and a walk up Queens Street that felt much longer than the walk into town we were finally in bed, where I at least fell straight to sleep.
^ terrible attempts to get a night shot as we were coming in to Auckland city harbour!
Next up is South Island. Stay tuned!
Confuzzledom 
Wow, I hadn’t even realized how much I miss the ocean until I saw your seagull photos! We lived near the Oregon coast for years, and I’m afraid we didn’t visit it nearly enough. Can’t wait to see your other NZ travel blogs!
I miss the ocean – it’s hard to get away from it in the UK! Having the Rhine running through the city makes quite a nice substitute though. Instead of gulls, I watch the ducks.
I had a great time in NZ so looking forward to your take on it! Especially if you made it to Rotorua 😉 Nice pics!
We did go to Rotorua – my uncle lives there 🙂 I won’t get round to it for a while though. South Island first 😉
The South Island is amazing 🙂
beautiful! lucky you:)
Very lucky.
Looks really nice. I think the furthest that I have been to was to the west coast of Canada and the USA. It must be a wonderful feeling to be so far away, on the other side of the world!
It’s kind of a weird feeling – New Zealand is so like Britain in many ways, then you’ll hear a bird or see some really unusual scenery and and realise “we’re sooo not at home now!”
Well if you’re trying to make me want to go back to NZ, you’re succeeding! 🙂 Such a great place.
And this is only my first post… sorry 😉
It really is a great place. We had an amazing time.
Lovely photos – everywhere look clean and clear and big!
Jan commented several times on how clean everywhere was. Barely any litter anywhere. It was fantastic!
Beautiful pics.The brownie gull is a young sea gull. Looks like your trip got off to a good start.:)
Ah, I knew one of my readers would know 😀
It was definitely a good start to the trip. Nice to have a fairly relaxed afternoon after the long journey.
oh yay! this is awesome. getting me super excited about going next year! the pictures are fabulous.
It was so amazing! I have even better pictures to come 😉
Wow, looks beautiful. The pictures from North Head and Mount Victoria are simply stunning!
Yes, and there is even more beauty to come. The south island was just spectacular!
oooh, i cant wait to hear more!! how nice your cousin was there to greet you!
So how was the sweet potato? nice??
xx
It was so nice having my cousin there and not having to take a bus after the looong journey!
The sweet potato was delicious – we ate loads more of it while we were in NZ.
Oh the sea! Looking forward to more vicarious travelling through your next blogs
The best is yet to come!
Oh it looks amazing! Looking forward to reading more – I’ve never been to New Zealand, so it’s nice to see more of it through your eyes x
It was incredible! Especially south island, but everything was amazing.
I can’t wait to here all about your trip! You can never see too much of New Zealand!
Oh my god. Amazing amazing AMAZING!! I would love to visit New Zealand! Can’t wait to see more of your photos and hear more about your trip.x
Love it! I can’t wait to read more!