behomeforT: Auckland, New Zealand part 4

Our last day in Auckland was such a grey day! It was cold, windy and there was rain - a lot of it! We checked out of the hotel early and MrBehomeforT went to get a hire car. I had a business appointment in the city and when I got back to the hotel there was still no car. Turns out that the car hire company did not have any cars left but they failed to notify MrBehomeforT on the phone. Useless! He went there all the way for nothing.

Anyway, in the end we got our car and we drove to Mt Eden on the edge of Auckland. Mt Eden used to be a volcano and has this massive crater from a dormant volcano and a few lookouts. Really nice, but we couldn’t see much. I’m sure the views are amazing on a clear day.

Completely frozen over, we drove to the Stardome Observatory. The place is OK – explains a few things about the universe, planets and how the earth came into existence but I have seen better places. I think it’s a nice place to go if you have children and they are old enough to understand science. I was bored soon enough and so was MrBehomeforT (surprisingly).

We drove to another North Shore suburb – Devonport. It’s a nice little seaside area with a beautiful view of the city. You can go for a nice walk along the coastline and then sit down and have a nice hot drink. It’s a quiet suburb and there wasn’t a lot to do other than walking around.

We drove around for a bit longer, stopping at some nice areas for a view but it was cold- freezing cold! We could see a massive boat/ferry moving from the inside of the harbour to the open seas while we drove around. Pretty cool. Quite funny – the name of the boat, Wallenius Willemsen, seems Dutch or Belgian. I wonder where that boat was going.

Our flight was leaving at 6AM and we stayed at the Ibis Budget near the airport. I thought it was a good plan, but on second thought we could have easily stayed another night at our hotel and have taken an early taxi to the airport. It wasn’t as far as we thought it was. For $60 less than our original hotel – the Ibis budget was pretty horrendous. Very small – still a fair bit away from the airport and not comfortable at all. TIP – do not stay there.

The flight back to Sydney was very bumpy and I had to go straight back into work. Auckland was amazing though and well worth seeing!