We were late leaving LA by 35 minutes due to having to wait for some non attendees. When we eventually did leave it was minus a few of them but all was not lost as we then made the time up on the flight and arrived 15 minutes earlier than scheduled.
We got a big surprise with the weather though as it was pouring with rain. Our transfer to the hotel took a good 40 minutes because we made the journey just as the morning rush hour was getting into full swing.
On arrival at the hotel we found that we would not be able to access our rooms until 2:00pm so the hotel provided us with a locked room where we were able to store our cases. Despite the weather we decided to go explore. However as we were leaving Nicole slipped on the wet pavement just outside the entrance and for one nasty moment I thought she had really hurt herself. Luckily it was more shock and a just a couple of grazes, the hotel manager was on hand and consequently expedited our room so Nicole could go and have a lie down for a bit. I can’t praise him and his staff enough for their assistance and total consideration.
The hotel where we are overnighting is called the VR Queen Street and reasonably central so once showered and with Nicole feeling better we set off to explore. When I had researched Auckland prior to coming we had decided we would do lots of walking but because of the weather we had to change our plans, the rain put paid to Mount Eden so I had managed to talk Nicole into going up the Sky Tower for our panoramic view however when we eventually caught sight of that our plans changed yet again. Because of the low lying clouds the top was seldom visible so we thought if you can’t see it from down here then you won’t see much from up there either.
So after walking down to the harbour and getting soaked in the process we cut our losses and made our way back to the hotel.
Interestingly Fred Olsen’s Black Watch and CMV Magellan are both in port today.
The tower opens at 8:30am so provided the weather improves we may go in the morning.
We are due to be picked up to go to the terminal at 11:30 so there should be plenty of time to squeeze it in. Mount Eden is 40 minutes each way so we have now dismissed that as an option.
If the weather improves we may go out again tonight but the forecast is much the same as it’s been since we got here so maybe we will just recharge our batteries in the dry.
I’ve checked tomorrow and sailaway should be dry so fingers crossed the forecast is accurate.