DAY in AUCKLAND and DEVINPORT

It was a beautiful day in Auckland and Devinport, New Zealand.  Sunny weather with cooler temperatures- high around 70 degrees.  Auckland is the largest city in New Zealand and the former capital. It is bustling and sports many beautiful vintage buildings and many modern ones.  Devinport, on the other hand is much smaller and very quaint.  It is a suburb, you might say and has lovely homes and beaches.  We met our guide, Jody, and rode in a small shuttle through both areas.  Our shuttle was small, only 16 of us and Jody was very knowledgeable and funny.  She grew up in Devinport along with her cousin Matt, who was our driver.

As we drove through the main part of Auckland, we noticed that it was extremely clean and had a San Diego vibe.  We left the city and took the highway to the tiny village of Devinport.

According to Jody and Matt, Devinport is the ideal location and offers affluent housing.  There are darling “cottages” that are historic and can’t be modified other than paint and general upkeep.  They are very pricy for the amount of square footage.  But, as is usually the case - location, location, location!  Devinport is beautiful with steep hills, stunning landscaping, parks, lakes, beaches and a charming downtown.  As we drove through it, I thought of areas around San Diego again.  The houses looked like some I’ve seen on Coronado Island,  La Jolla and La Mesa. 

We made a couple stops in Devinport to enjoy the views.  Here are some random photos that Mark and I took along our route.

When the tour finished, Mark and I stayed in Devinport to shop and have lunch.  We stopped in a quaint bookstore to buy some postcards.  (I copied an idea that I saw on Facebook. I like to create photo books after traveling and sometimes it’s nice to include handwritten notes in the books.  Journal on postcards and insert in the photo book - genius!) We ate lunch at the old Post Office, now a French Cafe.  Had a glass of Prosecco and a Galette.  Had never heard of a Galette before. It is “a savory crepe made solely of water, salt and buckwheat flour.  This variety of batter is gluten-free.  They are more savory than crepes and their color is brown.  Galettes are generally filled with salty ingredients.”  I had a chicken and mushroom galette and Mark had a ham and cheese galette.  Yum!

After our leisurely lunch we walked through a nearby park enroute to the ferry that would take us back to Auckland where our ship was docked.  

Once we got to Auckland we walked along the main street which is named Queen Street. Beautiful architecture and lots of high end shops - Louis Vuitton, Prada, Gucci, etc.  To me, this street had a bit of the Magnificent Mile in Chicago vibe.  I liked how there were old traditional buildings mixed in with the modern ones.

Once back on board we met some new friends for Happy Hour in the Explorers Lounge followed by dinner in the World Cafe.  Perfect ending to a fun day!