Day 11 & 12

 

The penultimate day in NZ (this time 'round at least) and we decided to have a lazy day.  The morning was spent chilling out around the hotel before embarking on a 1.5hr Wine & Cheese Harbour cruise.  A nice way to finish the time here and very good value given the charcuterie box we were provided plus a nice healthy glass of NZ Pinot Gris to help wash it down.

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After boarding the good ship MV Hogwash, we cruised up along the Auckland Harbour front and realised what a good choice we had made in not venturing into the city again, as cruise ship was in.  We then passed the container terminal and watched 2 tugs position a large container ship into the wharf.  In Day 10, I had a shot from Okahu Bay, looking back towards the city but the next photo is the 180" reverse.  After chugging out to the main channel marker, we turned back, giving us a view of the southern shore of the Harbour.  As mentioned briefly also in Day 10, Auckland was created by a number of volcanic eruptions (53 cones in total) and a few of the  dormant cones are highly visible.  In Auckland they talk about, not if there will be an eruption, but when!"

 

We then sailed past Devonport Naval Base, the home of the RNZN in Auckland.   We then continued into the harbour passing the Auckland Harbour Bridge.  The bridge was originally opened in 1959 but it was only 4 lanes (2 each way).  In 1967, a Japanese company was contracted to add 2 extra lanes either way, to the side of the bridge due to the growth in traffic.  In essence this was "clipped on" to the existing bridge and ever since the additional lanes were commissioned, the work has become to be known as the "Nippon Clip-on"...