Thursday, February 20, 2025 — we met up this morning after breakfast and went out to find the first stop for the Hop On Hop Off bus around Auckland.
We ‘hopped on’ and stayed on the bus for the first few stops, then got off to see the Domain Wintergardens. These were the gardens I had attempted to reach on my first day in Auckland, so I was really happy to have the opportunity to see their beauty. The Victorian era greenhouses, built in the early 1900s, have variety of plants and flowers. There is a beautiful fern grotto in an old quarry area, a ‘corpse flower’ (not blooming) and a pretty water garden. There’s a heated greenhouse with tropical and heat-loving plants while the other one displays temperate plants which change with the seasons.
We hopped back on and got off at the next stop, Mt. Eden, which towers almost 700 ft above Auckland. The bus dropped us off with a long steep walk to reach the top! The expansive views, including the All Blacks stadium at Eden Park, the city centre and the Auckland harbor, made the long uphill walk worthwhile.
We completed the entire loop, including a few extra stops added in the summer months, and went back to the ship.
During dinner we left Auckland port, off to the Bay of Islands. The sunset from my cabin was a beautiful goodbye to awesome Auckland.
Travels with Nance 