Today is our last day to explore NZ! We left the CBD by 8am as that's when the expensive parking charges kicked in! First we found our way to Parnell, the oldest part of the city. We walked around the many boutique stores and very exclusive looking restaurants.
Our next stop was Mount Eden, the highest viewpoint over the city. Mount Eden is an extinct (we hope) volcano that you can peer down into. It has a magnificent round crater which is now covered in grass. When you stood on the crater rim, the wind was ferocious and you could hardly stay on your feet!
We travelled across the city to Howick to visit the beaches. The wind was whipping up the sea into a frenzy, so we went to the cute high street shops!
Our plan next was to visit the Botanic gardens but unfortunately the weather had other ideas and it started to rain. So ... we headed indoors to Auckland's biggest shopping centre in Manukau. Here we spent most of the rainy afternoon browsing.
As we left the car park the petrol light showed on the dashboard. However, fortunately for us, our next stop was the car rental depot at the airport only 15km away. We needed to return the car empty and we certainly did. We made it to the rental depot, returned our car :-( which we had become quite attached to and loaded our bags into the transfer van. We were whisked off to the airport where we will wait patiently for our flight early tomorrow ... yawn!
Our next stop was Mount Eden, the highest viewpoint over the city. Mount Eden is an extinct (we hope) volcano that you can peer down into. It has a magnificent round crater which is now covered in grass. When you stood on the crater rim, the wind was ferocious and you could hardly stay on your feet!
We travelled across the city to Howick to visit the beaches. The wind was whipping up the sea into a frenzy, so we went to the cute high street shops!
Our plan next was to visit the Botanic gardens but unfortunately the weather had other ideas and it started to rain. So ... we headed indoors to Auckland's biggest shopping centre in Manukau. Here we spent most of the rainy afternoon browsing.
As we left the car park the petrol light showed on the dashboard. However, fortunately for us, our next stop was the car rental depot at the airport only 15km away. We needed to return the car empty and we certainly did. We made it to the rental depot, returned our car :-( which we had become quite attached to and loaded our bags into the transfer van. We were whisked off to the airport where we will wait patiently for our flight early tomorrow ... yawn!
