Friday | February 17, 2017
We arrived in Auckland early this morning.
Consistently ranked among the most livable cities in the world—and New Zealand’s largest by far—Auckland’s dazzling beaches, sunny climate, and profusion of parks, trails and vineyards are all within reach of the culturally dense Auckland Central. With a Polynesian background and a modern passion for food, wine and shopping, it is easy to see why the “City of Sails” is such a favorite. Piercing the skyline, the Sky Tower cannot be missed, and we certainly didn’t miss it.
After breakfast and a morning workout, it was time to head off the ship and explore Auckland, specifically, golf. Actually, even before we went out to play golf, we had golf drama. The ship's golf pro was ready to cancel the event because of rain. I told him to look out the window where we could see beautiful sunshine. Alternatively, he could call the course for a weather update. Eventually, it was decided we would proceed. Today’s course was Gulf Harbour.
It was like a tale of two courses. The first half was playable enough and wound among small nondescript homes.
The back nine was much better manicured and pretty, and the homes were grand and majestic.
For the second time this week, I shot in the 80s. I am starting to believe, however, that much of that may be due to the generous gimme putts surrendered by my partner.
The ride home took us over generous sprawls of low tide with Auckland in the backround.
The skyline is also remarkable and growing. Note all the sailboats in the harbor.
Back on the ship, the aim was not to lie down or fall asleep so we showered, changed and headed out to dinner.
We took an Uber and headed out to an Indian restaurant one of our friends recommended. It was a casual location in what some might refer to as a food court. But the food was terrific. The ambience was a bit loud and animated, but we had a great meal, puntactuated by Indian beer. (If not for the beer, I would've remembered the name of the restaurant and recorded it here!)
Once we got back to the ship, we went to Regatta for another beer before retiring for the evening.
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