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- Top
Left: The
Sky Tower (1085' high) decorated for the America's Cup.
The tower dominates the Auckland skyline.
- Top
Middle: A
view of just a few of the thousands (?) of sailboats in
the Waitemata Harbor from a top the Sky
Tower.
- Top
Middle: A
VERY windy day in Auckland. We could barely stand up
straight. So what do we do? We take a Ferry cruise around
the Harbor! It was so windy, they didn't sail any races
that day. That was an experience - holding on for dear
life on the top deck. Unfortunately, because of the
inclimate weather we didn't get off the boat to explore
the small islands that dot the Auckand area.
- Top
Right: The
AmericaOne compound. They almost made it to the America's
Cup, only to be beaten by Italy. From the looks of it, NZ
should have no problem defending the Cup against
Italy.
- Bottom
Right: The
Ferry Building.
- Middle:
A calm day in the harbor. This was our last view of
Auckland - a couple hours after this ride, we were on a
plane bound for home.
We spent the
second week of our vacation in Auckland, NZ's largest city,
with a population approaching 1 million. NZ has a total
population of about 3.5 million. It is known as the "City of
Sails", even before NZ won the America's Cup.
While we
were there the America's Cup was getting started with the
Challenger's series - several boats sailing for the chance
to meet NZ in the America's Cup. N/Z/Auckland was in full
swing for construction of the America's Cup Village and a
number of restaurants, stores, hotels and upscale condos on
the waterfront. The Kiwi's told us that this area was in
dire need of renewal before the NZ'ers won the cup in '95. I
think it's been a boost and has made a big impact for
Auckland/NZ - especially for tourism. When it was in SD in
'95, it was barely a blip on the screen.
It's a
beautiful city, full of friendly Kiwis and HILLS. Everything
seemed to be on the top of a hill. Of course, we walked
(climbed) almost everywhere.
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