Yesterday I ate dinner at a place called Moreton’s at St. Helier’s Bay. Their logo is a silhouette of a Moreton Bay Fig Tree. Just down the road there are three of them, which I think are the only ones I’ve seen outside of Santa Barbara. They’re almost as big, and they have figs on them.
Today I went on a Failure Cruise. To partly make up for not going on harbor cruises at either Akaroa or Russell, I went on one in Auckland Harbor. It made it to its first stop, at Rangitoto Island, then developed “technical issues with the port engine” and couldn’t complete the cruise. We churned slowly back to the pier, turning 270 degrees left in order to go right. I overheard the captain telling the mechanic that the port engine “stopped,” which probably does qualify as a technical issue.
The lack of an engine made tying up more difficult.
But they finally managed it.
And we all got refunds, so I got half a cruise for free. Not a bad deal, really.
So one night I’m eating fresh fish of the day at a table on the bay in Russell, and the next night I’m eating a McDonald’s Kiwi Burger* in my motel room in Auckland. And what a room it is. I think the motel used to be an apartment building in the 1950s. They’ve updated the plumbing, appliances, and electrical system since then, but I’m sure the carpet is original. Furnishings are probably from about 1980. There are odd cupboards with tubing in them.
Each unit has a country or region associated with it — Italian, Mexican, Baltic, etc. I’m in the Swiss Suite. I can’t see anything Swiss about it, unless the Swiss put tubing in their cupboards.
I grossly underestimated the drive time for the Northland. In addition to sheep hazards, road maintenance, and slow logging trucks, the roads are more winding, and there are one-lane bridges and ferry crossings.
It’s 436 km from Cape Reinga to Auckland, or 271 miles. That took me a bit over seven hours. I would have been better off spending an extra day in Russell and driving straight down from there.
* I don’t think it’s made with actual kiwis, but I can’t be completely sure what’s in it.
Cape Reinga is way the hell north. I went there. I saw it. Here’s a video. The wind makes it hard to hear in parts, but I’m just talking about moas, so it’s not like you’re missing anything.
Oldest Church in New Zealand. Built 1836.
