Auckland

Michele kicks off her mammoth trip on 9th January 2012. Read her roving reports from the High Seas to her journey Down Under. Keeping you up-to-date with all the news as it happens.
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Michele Monro
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Auckland

Post by Michele Monro » Thu Apr 26, 2012 5:28 am

With more boats per capita than any other city in the world, Auckland is appropriately known as the City of Sails. At about 3.00am we passed through the Colville Channel and were entering the Houraki Gulf soon after. The pilot came on board at 5.30am to steer us through the Rangitoto Channel so we could dock at the Princess Wharf. Unbelievably we’d had clearance by 7.30am and were free to leave the ship but being Sunday nothing much opened until 10.00am.

Te British got quite a bargain when they bought the 3,000 acres on which Auckland now stands from the Maoris for $110. Named for the Earl of Auckland, the Viceroy of India, Auckland became the capitol of the colony between 1842 and 1865, when the title was given to Wellington, considered a more suitable site. Even though it is no longer the capitol, Auckland flourishes with more than a million residents. It seems that thousands of Pacific Islanders, seeking employment and education opportunities moved there. These immigrants coupled with the Maoris have made Auckland the largest Polynesian city in the world. Located on the northeast side of the North Island, Auckland stretches across 60 extinct volcanoes and because it also stretches across a narrow isthmus, it separates two seas: the Pacific Ocean to the east and the Tasman Sea to the west.

There were lots of tours on offer, the majority involving a ferry ride of some sort, but being Sunday it was a sparser service than weekdays and I was worried that I might not get back in time. There was also a terrific tour on offer, which travelled inland to the Waitomo Glow Worm Grotto where your boat weaves through the vast underground caverns lit only by the flickering blue-green of the unusual glow worms that hang down from above. There was also an inner tube ride available and I would really like to have done all of it but alas it was a three-hour journey each way. Auckland also offers the Sky Tower, which they boast is the tallest freestanding structure in the Southern Hemisphere at 1,072 feet high but having done something similar in both Singapore and Japan I gave it a miss. It is interesting that all the cities boast that their tower is the tallest but I presume they get away with the statement by wording it carefully. In Auckland’s case they use the words ‘freestanding’ and ‘Southern Hemisphere’ I think the tallest has to be the one in Dubai but who knows for sure?

I opted for a walk around the city. I have to say though that I’m not a lover of big cities, apart from an elite few, they all look the same to me with the same shops lining the high streets and in a lot of cases the same attractions. They don’t have their own character and appear rather clinical and today’s port visit didn’t compare to the beauty and quaintness of our visit to Akaroa on Friday. Before you all start writing telling me off for this broad statement, please note I did say with a few exceptions.

I was back on board the ship by 2.30pm and spent the next few hours catching up on my emails. This was the first time I’d been on since sailing so I was lucky that I only had 286 emails to plough through. Richard wrote to let me know that Bert Weedon had died and Alan from Odeon Entertainment to let me know that his partner Wayne had passed away. Even though we expected the news at some point, it still comes as a shock. I sent my love and prayers to both family and friends at what must be a very painful and difficult time.

I’ve now had the mock up from Steve Woof of the new album cover and I’m happy with it but it now seems that there has been a hold up getting the legal clearances on the tracks. That will probably mean that the release will be delayed several weeks. Apart from Singer’s Singer, which was brought out at the Book Launch in September, I can’t remember any of our releases being on time. It doesn’t seem to matter how early I plan ahead or start nagging, there is always a delay for some reason or another. Capitol were told at the beginning of the year that we needed three tracks and this time round it has taken some three months for us to get them, and even then one of them was the wrong version. Thankfully we have been able to rectify this before release but now we have this other issue. You will be the first to know the actual day ‘Matt Uncovered: The Rarer Monro’ becomes available.


Another day at sea and the weather is still too cold for me, on top of that the seas are rough, with 4 metre swells and it is set to stay like this throughout the night. Princess is maintaining a north-north-easterly course crossing the South Pacific Ocean. I found out today that the ship docks in an industrial area in Fiji and as such there is nothing for miles around. Any journey would take a minimum of an hour so with that in mind I have decided to book one of the ship’s tours. Certainly the charms of the South Pacific ports offer something to satisfy anyone’s sense of aesthetics and Fiji has long been on my Bucket List, as has Tahiti. It never occurred to me that we might not have the idyllic weather one sees on television holiday adverts but as of today the forecast for our port stop on Wednesday is 40% rain with overcast skies. I’ll have to have a word with him upstairs.

Got together with Gabby and Craig who live on the Monterey Peninsula and they’ve told me that I’ll need my coat in San Francisco, as it is colder than Sydney at this time of year. I’m really disappointed with this news update, as I’d worked on the assumption that being near to the desert of Vegas it would be hot and balmy. The last weather that I could sunbathe in was Cairns, which was some six weeks ago and my glorious tan that I’d built up is fast fading. I had to take another seasickness pill yesterday and thank God they work but they knock me right out and I slept a good proportion of the afternoon away. Didn’t eat as the ship was listing all over the place so camped out I the Casino for the evening. Gabby and I sat at our usual slots and at last the jackpot came up, unfortunately not for me but Gabby was on a roll. As soon as she hit it big on one machine she moved to the next and won on three of them. It was exciting but unfortunately she didn’t hit the massive jackpot, that is still to come.

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mariana44
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Re: Auckland

Post by mariana44 » Thu Apr 26, 2012 3:50 pm

San Francisco is a great place-0I love it-but the weather can be tempermental--I have been in July, and the whole time, the whole area has been covered in a dense mist--but I have also been when it has been clear and sunny and just delightful.
Mariana

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Lena & Harry Smith
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Re: Auckland

Post by Lena & Harry Smith » Fri Apr 27, 2012 8:05 am

Thanks for this up-date Michele. We are not only hearing of your latest fantastic adventire but getting a history and geography lesson all rolled into one. :)
Sorry the weather isn't living up to expectations, but while you're having a word with him upstairs, will you tell him we are all pee'd off with it here too, and if he would just kindly hold up the rain for this Sunday. We are off to Brighton for the day. :D

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Marian
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Re: Auckland

Post by Marian » Fri Apr 27, 2012 10:33 am

Yes Michele, I expect it must be better than being at home anyway! Good to get updates from you again.

Weather for Sunday is forecast in the Express as "60 mph gales to batter Britain"! Lena. Hope it doesn't mean Brighton, or Reading for that matter, as our two boys are going to watch the Reading Football team make a celebratory tour of the town in an open bus!

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Lena & Harry Smith
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Re: Auckland

Post by Lena & Harry Smith » Sat Apr 28, 2012 7:32 am

We saw those Daily Express headlines in Asda yesterday Marian. OMG !!!

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Sandra
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Re: Auckland

Post by Sandra » Mon Apr 30, 2012 9:36 am

Great to hear a news update from you again Michele.

Have you noticed Marian how the Express in particular is obsessed with the weather :roll:
Their front page must have more headlines about it than any other paper that we have read :roll:

We have just returned from 8 supposed to be 10 days in Weymouth Dorset and the weather has been the worst we have ever experienced .Very cold,wind,rain and floods.
We gave up in the end and came home early :( :(

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Marian
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Re: Auckland

Post by Marian » Mon Apr 30, 2012 3:21 pm

Sorry the weather was so bad for your holiday Sandra. All that lovely weather in March and then the wettest April for ages!
The other front pages of the Express are Madeleine, Princess Diana, New medications that are going to save the world, and immigrants!

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Sandra
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Re: Auckland

Post by Sandra » Mon Apr 30, 2012 4:07 pm

:lol: :lol: true!

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