Auckland, New Zealand
New Zealand is comprised of two main islands, North Island and South Island. Auckland is the largest city on the North Island, with a population of 1.5 million. It is a gorgeous city of old buildings and modern sky scrapers, sitting on a beautiful bay. It’s on the eastern coast, with islands and boats everywhere. In fact, Auckland, known as the “City of Sails,” has one of the highest rates of boat ownership in the world, with estimates suggesting roughly 1 boat for every 100 people
Today we combined two of our favorite things, nature and wine, via a Viator tour. In the morning, we had the opportunity to visit three wineries in the Kumeu wine region west of Auckland; Soljens Estate Winery, The Hunting Lodge, and Westbrook Winery, and had a tasty lunch at Westbrook.
In the afternoon, we headed to the west coast of New Zealand, to see a gannet colony near Muriwai. Gannets, actually from Australia, are from the booby family of birds. Their wingspan as adults can be 67-75 inches wide, with bodies 30-36 inches long. The adults have white bodies with black tinged wings, along with yellow on the top of their heads. Juveniles are mostly gray and the fledglings are fluffy white.
This particular colony has an estimate of nearly 1500 pairs. They are plunge divers, plunging from heights of 65 feet into the waters to catch pilchard and anchovy. We thoroughly enjoyed watching the parents feed their babies and the juveniles trying to fly.
Back in Auckland, we visited Queens Rooftop bar and restaurant for the spectacular views. Situated near the ferry terminal, it gave a commanding view of the bay and the Coral Princess. Our sail away was just after sunset and we enjoyed seeing Auckland in the dusk. Many residents from the nearby Hilton Hotel and residences came out to wave goodbye, and the tug boats provided a show of “donuts” to send us on our way.
Note: We are having some technical difficulties getting our photo files to load on the website, hence the irregular posting recently. Sincere apologies and we hope to have things running smoothly very soon.
Tomorrow: Tauranga, New Zealand
Post Gallery
The Auckland Sky Tower.
The Ferry Terminal, Auckland.
Marshall trying whiskey at the winery.
Muriwai, New Zealand, looking at the Tasman Sea.
Muriwai, New Zealand
The NZ coast at Muriwai.
Our first glimpse of the gannet colony.
The adults are white with yellow heads, the juveniles are gray/brown and the fledglings are fluffy white.
There's an adult, feeding a fledgling.
Wing spans nearly six feet across.
It is estimated there are 1500 pairs in this colony.
A juvenile, wondering if he's ready to take flight.
An adult gannet.
We loved watching the gannets soar!
An adult in flight.
Another fledgling.
All ages in this photo!
Our ship from the Rooftop. Next to the ship are flats and a Hilton Hotel.
Two ships in port today~
There's the Hilton, as we back out, with people waving goodbye.
The tugs sending us off with some fancy "donuts".
The lights on the buildings are just coming on.
More donuts with the city skyline in the background.
Love the National Geographic-worthy photos! I’m surprised gannets are such an uncommon bird to us in the US. They are grand and stately in their adult size; how their colors change as they grow is amazing! Got a kick out of the tugboat donuts and whiskey at the winery!
Beautiful pictures. Loved the birds . Glad u were able to post this.