Floating Cities

I am completely in love with boats, and last night was a big night for me. I lusted over not just one, but two lovely ships in Sydney Harbour. One, the La Masquerade out of London, is a private yacht that creates such a sense of lust and admiration that it might as well be a woman. The other the Diamond Princess is a massive piece of engineering, delicately moving its way out of the dock and out to open ocean, it so quietly that if you were not watching it, you would have no idea it was moving. A piece of elegant travel from the past -- I tend to over-romanticize ocean travel, its beauty and class. It has an air of sophstication about it -- and I long to travel by ocean liner to far off lands.

Sailing Along

It's like Sydney, minus the atmosphere. Auckland has it all, but still lacks the insight into a good night out that Sydney seems to excel at. I was there for all in all about 4 nights, but still found the city to be deserted by around 7pm -- but the coffee options in Auckland bring it back to life in the a.m.

The mountains, hills and lovely views somewhat redeems this city of sails, of lights and water. I found Auckland to be very calm, peaceful and uneventful. It was a refreshing time of thought and ferry rides to even less interesting places. Maybe I'm being a bit down on the place, but you don't go to New Zealand to go to a city - you go to NZ for the natural beauty of the country, and on this particular trip, I was, for the most part, unable to achieve that. Apart from 1.) hiking a volcano and 2.) taking a really nice trip to an open conversation island, Auckland was rather boring. Sorry Auckland, I'm sure you have redeeming qualities (Such as a plethora of great Japanese food) but when compared with your natural beauty, your lovely sites on the south island, it just feel a bit short.