Monday – March 3, 2025
OK – I’ll be the first to admit I don’t know anything about the America’s Cup. But I did some checking and found that it is the oldest international sporting competition. First race was in 1851. The cup is never touched by human hands without using museum-quality gloves. Today’s featured photo is of the boat sailed by the Emirates, Team New Zealand which won the cup in Barcelona in 2024. Don’t know where the competition will be held this year. If you’d like to know more about the cup and its history, click here.
There is quite a bit of land on both sides of the ship as it sailed into Auckland harbor. As we neared the docks we were met by two tugs – a green one and a blue one. Quarters are tight at the docks so they helped position Magnifica for a safe docking. We had a mid-morning excursion time which allowed us to eat more of the fruit we had been accumulating in our cabin. As our first call at a New Zealand port we were cautioned not to bring anything on shore that might contain bugs or bacteria that could adversely affect the New Zealand environment. A message to that in multiple languages was played over and over and signs had been placed on all the tables in the restaurants and buffets.
We exited the ship and went to our bus where we were greeted by Raymond. He would be our driver and guide for this excursion. This was called a “city tour”. These tours have been interesting but usually are superficial in terms of getting to really know the city. Auckland is the largest city in New Zealand with a population of over 1.7 million. During the driving to and from our first and second stops we were in a section of town named Parnell. Raymond said it was one of the oldest in town and preserves its heritage by not allowing changes to the buildings on its main streets. it was a nice looking area with clean streets and plenty of plantings.
Our first stop of the day was to be the Auckland Museum. From the time we met Raymond it took about 30 minutes to reach the museum. I saw a group of kids playing cricket and took a photo since I’ve only seen cricket played on TV or in a movie.
The museum was busy with tourists like ourselves and many school groups. We made it around the first floor but didn’t have enough time to visit the 2nd and 3rd floors – perhaps on our visit next year. The exhibits we saw provided background for Auckland’s history. There were many Maori carvings and even a Maori meeting hall (which we were told we could not photograph). There was a canoe on display that must have been at least 40 feet in length. One of our selfie’s was taken at the stern.
We spent about 45 minutes looking at exhibits before boarding the bus to head to our next stop at MJ Savage Memorial Park. Mr. Savage was a well-respected New Zealand Prime Minister. The park is situated on a hill which allows a nice view of the Auckland harbor area. We were able to get selfies with a couple of the people at our table – Karen and Mike. While we were visiting the park another of our table mates was at a hospital next to the museum having a cast put on her ankle. She had broken it a couple days earlier and our ship had sent her x-rays ahead so the cast could be applied when we were in port.
The next “attraction” was the harbor bridge from which you can get a good view of the Auckland skyline as well as the communities surrounding Auckland. After going over and back on the bridge we stopped at Wynyard Wharf where The Big Wheel is located. The Big Wheel is an axel connecting two cogged wheels each weighing eight tons. They were used in a dredge built in Scotland and used in New Zealand. At this point we took a couple selfies – one with the skyline as a background and one with the America’s Cup winner in the background. We also took a selfie with Guilio – the MSC employee who will be accompanying us as we journey in Australia.
Our tour ended with Raymond dropping us off where the tour began at the pier. We walked from there to a bank to exchange larger note New Zealand currency we got at home for some smaller denominations. On the walk back to the ship we spent time looking inside one of the commercial buildings in the area – lots of high-end stores and many, many restaurants.
Once we returned to the ship we had a quick snack in the buffet then I headed up to decks 14 and 15 and Kelsey and Jan went off to do something I can’t remember.
We were docked near the area where all incoming and outgoing vehicles are processed so lots of cars and trucks on the piers. I included some photos of the piers and of one car that Mary Kay might consider for their high performing sales people. There are also some photos of the buildings in the downtown area. Raymond mentioned that less than two weeks earlier he had gone bungie jumping from the Sky Tower – the tallest structure in Auckland. He also mentioned he needed to change his pants after that experience!
We began our sail away from Auckland as our seating for dinner was called. You’ll find a few of the items on the menu pictured in today’s media.
The entertainment tonight was the New Zealand trio who had performed a few nights back – The Madeleines. We tried to keep track of the songs they sang in the labels for the video.
Tomorrow we dock at Tauranga. Don’t know a thing about it but are looking forward to learning what happens in their neck of the woods.
Leave a Reply