After our 12-day Australia-New Zealand cruise, we spent a couple more days in Auckland for more sightseeing.
(Click here to see all our trips.)
Day 1: Auckland Downtown, Auckland Domain
We disembarked in the morning, and would spend two more days sightseeing in Auckland and surroundings. We booked an apartment hotel within walking distance to the port, and stored the luggage at the hotel before sightseeing.
Auckland downtown was also within walking distance. Everything was nearby, so it’s very convenient, and we didn’t need to use any transportations.
Sky Tower was probably the best known landmark of Auckland. It’s a telecommunications and observation tower situated in the downtown area not too far from the port. The place also offered SkyWalk and SkyJump experiences for daredevils. We only took pictures from below.
This was a famous shopping area with many stores. Walking along Victoria Street, we soon reached Farmers Queen Street, a large department store. Since it’s late December, there’s a giant Santa and two reindeer outside the building.
Auckland Town Hall was a neo-Baroque styled building. It hosted many cultural events. Civic Theater was another venue for performing arts.
We also visited two churches: St. Paul’s Church and St Patrick’s Cathedral. St. Paul Church is a historic Anglican church in neo-Gothic style. It’s elegant and beautiful. St Patrick’s Cathedral is the oldest Catholic Cathedral in New Zealand. The exterior of St Patrick looked plain, but the interior was magnificent.
Afterwards, we continued walking to Auckland Domain, a large public park with verdant gardens, a greenhouse and the Auckland Museum.
Auckland Museum is a famous museum dedicated to Pacific people, nature, culture and arts. There’s a Maori meeting house and many artifacts. It’s worth mentioning that the museum also displayed Sir Edmund Hillary’s ice axe used in the famous first Mount Everest Summit!
Day 2: Waitomo Glowworm Caves, Hobbiton
We booked a tour to visit Waitomo Glowworm Caves and Hobbiton today. Both places are outside of Auckland and require car ride to reach.
Waitomo Glowworm Caves is a very famous large cave system populated with a glowworm species only found in New Zealand. Tourists rode a boat going through underground cave chambers. The cave was almost completely dark with the exception of little lights on the walls and ceilings that were the glowworms. This was a magical experience not to be missed! (Unfortunately, I don’t have any photos to show. I didn’t have a cell phone then, and my camera didn’t work well in the dark.)
We had a lunch break before continuing to Hobbiton, where the Hobbit movies were filmed. For many Hobbit and Lord of the Rings fans, this is a must-see!
Visitors were required to ride the Hobbiton bus to reach the location. From afar, we could see verdant hills with many tiny Hobbit houses with the famous round doors, and everybody was very excited!
A guide led us to walk through the Hobbiton. We were allowed to enter some of the houses and to take photos. We all took so many pictures!
At the end of the walking tour, we were taken to The Green Dragon Inn, and each of us received a free drink. The entire tour was a very memorable experience. Highly recommended!
