Feb3 Robby and Ryan, Peggy’s nephews, arrived from California! After an all night flight, when they were still suffering from jet lag, we threw them off Auckland’s tallest building, the Sky Tower! We put them in special jump suits with a harness, hooked them to a cable and off they went, 192 meters, straight down.
Ryan in flight.
Robby, coming in for landing!
Luckily they landed well and had a great time! Then we all went back up the tower to view the city from up high. The Sky Deck is 220 meters (720ft) high and you can see forever! The main observation deck (192m) has a glass floor and its a little un-nerving stepping out onto it for the first time. Here are a few of the views –
After an exciting start, we spent the rest of the day and evening checking out the sites, cafes and bars along the waterfront.
Robby had broken his foot playing volleyball a couple months earlier and his foot is still recovering so we put him on an escooter for part of the time downtown.
The next day started with a trip to the Sea Life Aquarium. The first exhibit is penguins. Everyone loves penguins!
Here are a few King penguins. They have Gentoo penguins as well, about 80 total. They breed them for other aquariums.
After that, many large and small aquariums. Some small enough for just a few specimens, others hundreds of feet long with glass sides the entire length. And some had glass tunnels for us to walk through the middle of the aquarium.
Some great jelly fish, seen up close.
There are sharks, rays, eels and many fish floating all around you as you walk through the aquarium tunnel.
The bodies of some of the lobsters are over 2 ft long!
Ryan, checking out the pre-historic shark jaws.
The aquarium ‘building’ was unique. Just a small, uninteresting block with a door above ground. The rest is all below the parking lot and the road, along the harbor. You’d never know it was there except for a few signs to help you know where to park. But the aquarium is a real treasure and I’d recommend it to anyone interested in sea life.
Coming out of the aquarium, you get a great view of the Auckland city skyline.
Mission Bay has one of the more popular beaches in Auckland. Mid afternoon in the middle of the summer, and not many people. Behind the beach is a great kid’s playground, large lawn area, showers and changing rooms, free public parking and several dozen cafes, restaurants, bars and coffee shops. A great place to spend a summer day!
Pat, Ryan & Robby enjoying the water.
Peggy got in the water to join us! The water was reasonably warm. At low tide, it got to knee deep quickly but you could walk out another 400 meters or more with it only chest deep. A very nice place for fun in the water.
Tomorrow, we are off to Middle Earth!