new zealand
° Auckland ° Devonport
° UNESCO World Heritage Sites
Auckland
Because of my daughter's illness in Roratonga, Cook Islands, we were not able to spend much time in New Zealand. We were initially going to stay in Auckland and venture out from there, but because of her weak condition, we decided to stay in Devonport, which is a quiet little town across from New Zealand via ferryboat (in the same way that Sausalito is a somewhat quiet little town across the Bay from San Francisco). I spent some time at Auckland's wonderful maritime museum digging through articles on shipping, and found information on Captain James H. Blethen, my great-great grandfather which is now on The Maritime Heritage Project site.
Devonport
If someone said, "You have to move now. Pick a place. Go." My first thought would be Devonport, New Zealand. Beautiful. Small. Sophisticated. And just a ferryboat ride away from Auckland.
Devonport is an historical maritime village with many beaches, colonial architecture. Devonport Village and an excellent range of specialty shops, cafes and restaurants. While we choose to stay in Devonport at the 100-year-old elegant Esplande Hotel right on the waterfront, the town can be easily reached from Auckland as the ferry trip takes only ten minutes from downtown Auckland direct to Devonport Village. If you are driving, it's about a twenty-minute drive over the harbour bridge.
Merge Sausalito and Berkeley, California, and you have the charming seaside town of Devonport, New Zealand. Numerous bookstores and a library intermingle with restaurants, pubs and boutique shops lining the main street leading up from the 100-year-old Esplanade Hotel. (While there, The Esplanade’s superb staff catered to my daughter, who was recovering from an illness, by watching over her and delivering ice cream, chicken soup and magazines.)
Spacious sitting rooms in the Esplanade's suites overlook the ferryboat landing where a ten minute cruise across Stanley Bay lands at Auckland’s Quay Street with the exceptional New Zealand National Maritime Museum, Princess Wharf and the Oriental Market. Art galleries, Albert Park and Auckland University are also a short distance from the docks.
As for the beaches, while they are vast, New Zealand would not be a place I would visit for beaches. The weather . . . at least when we were there . . . is "temperamental." At no time did we think a day sufficiently warm to visit any beach. Of course, we had just arrived there from French Polynesia and the Cook Islands with their sublime temperatures, turquoise waters and white sand beaches.
However, for beach walking/combing, Cheltenham Beach is only one mile away from the ferry terminal. Along King Edward Parade you will pass the Devonport Yacht Club, The Masonic Tavern and the cricket green. A lovely restaurant is located at the beach.
At the northern end of the beach, at Vauxhall Road and along Victoria Road, there are shops, cafes and fine restaurants, a few bookstores, the Devonport Library, wonderful boutique clothing shops, a movie theater, day spa, pubs, the post office, and just about everything else you would need.
UNESCO World Heritage Sites in New Zealand
- Te Wahipounamu – South West New Zealand (1990)
- Tongariro National Park (1990, 1993)
- New Zealand Sub-Antarctic Islands (1998)
Reading departure signs in some big airport