After surveying on the Maxx transport at www.maxx.co.nz, we found the bus from Gillies Ave to Auckland City, Queen Street. Queen Street and Symonds Street are the main streets in Auckland City. It takes around 30 minutes to travel to the city arriving at 11:30a.m. The checking is convenient although sometimes the bus may delay in a couple of minutes but at least there will be bus for you. We took bus number 297. The bus station from Gillies Ave is just walking distance from the house, 2-3 minutes.
Upon arrival in the City, I found is kind of pack with people around although it is not congested however I still found it busy. There are teenagers with those 'yeah' look and office workers with their formal attire, coats. We walked around and took photos of the building. The first building where the bus landed was the Civic Theatre. There's a Film Festival going on.
- Civic Theatre in Queen Street
- Sky Tower, tallest building in Auckland City, 328 metres in height. 50 metres from where we are??? haha...
- Albert Park is behind those buildings
- Cafes and Restaurant are just everywhere
- Britomart Building where the train station is
- Metropolis, all branded stuffs can be obtained here
- Ferry Building, one of the renowned builfing in the City, at the Harbour
While we walked, there are a lot of souvenirs shops around. Some having their one unique items. Most well seen are the All Black souvenirs. All Black is NZ Rugby Team. As the name, the souvenirs are all in black colour. There was one souvenir shop having hiring notice written in Chinese, of cause I grabbed this chance to ask although is kind of not use to it. The person in the reception like want to tell don't want to tell kind of attitude saying hand in CV and will call. I didn't hand in and just walk away. Maybe I should have ask in Chinese instead since the notice is written in Chinese and Japanese. Maybe the person do not want others to know about the vacancy.
We had a walked to Albert Park. There's library and fountain near the park. Once up the park, you will be able to see the Clock Tower or aka the Arts Building of University Auckland. Is quite unique and nice in terms of design.
- Sir George Crey, Governor of NZ : 1845 - 1853 and 1861 - 1868, Last Superintendent of Auckland : 1875 - 1876 and Premier of NZ : 1877 - 1879
- The Clock Tower
You can do anything in the park, legally of course, like : - Reading in the park
- Improving relation
and of course - Photo taking. Another view of the park, is quite a big park though.
We have our lunch at Burger King. I took the BK Chicken Burger and the size is almost slightly bigger than the KFC burger in Malaysia. The one shown in advertised always got stolen one. And is NZD3.00.
- BK Chicken Burger, NZD 3.00
Then we walked around the WaterFront. Is nice where you can see the ships and caf facing the sea. Next while walking we passed by the Dim Sum Restaurant once shown in one of the website. We walked towards Sky City and entered the casino. The security did a check on my passport and said is ok to Chia Yeen haha does that meant I look younger? Haha Well being checked upon the entrance to casino is not new to me. As I often get stop. The casino is just normal maybe is still early, 4:00p.m. Still Perth is better.
- Harbour Information Counter at the WaterFront
- Nice ship. Huge isn't it. See the size contrast?
- iSite is the Tourist Information Centre in NZ, is everywhere
- The ships
- Some streets liquor are strictly forbidden especially in Central Business District (CBD)
- At last Sky Tower
When we walked out from SkyCity, there is someone doing SkyJump in 2 minutes time. We stayed and witness this. The jumping reminds me of 林保怡in 珠光寶氣 jumping from a tower. Is exactly something like that. It started to rain in Auckland and we took a bus back to Gillies Ave. The bus ride was NZD6.40 for 2 ways.
- Sky Jumping
- from 192m straight down
- approximately 85kph in 11 seconds
- This is NZ Sky Jump, NZD 195
Lean prepared NZ dinner for us. We have baked pumpkin, roasted chicken as well as mashed potato. Is a nice dinner and everyone enjoyed it. Lean for sure is a good cook.
