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New Zealand is a small but incredibly beautiful country that sits like a semicolon at the end of the sentence that is Australia.

New Zealand

Hank Shiffman
2003-11-29 15:02:00

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concept of daytime. I'd have all of a day here before heading north. So I started walking, trying to get whatever impressions my sleep-deprived brain could absorb. My first discovery was that Auckland is remarkably hilly, a result of its location on and around a series of volcanic cones. Extinct cones, I can only hope.

Centre city was all shops and office buildings, mostly deserted at seven on a weekday morning. But after a while I found more interesting architecture. Like the High Court building at left, carefully set back from the street and the sidewalk as if in anticipation of my photographic requirements. Or the house fronts in the next street over, named Courtville I can only guess in honor of its proximity to the halls of justice. The court looked clean and bright and perfect; Courtville a little more worn and lived in. Not sure which I like better.

I didn't see much of the city that first day. But not being one to let a lack of information intrude on a good assessment, I decided that Auckland was an uninteresting place, a poor second to harbour cities like Sydney and Rio and my own San Francisco. I was, as it turns out, full of it.

I wouldn't discover the folly of my snap judgment for three more weeks, when I returned to Auckland at the end of my trip. Now I would have the chance to explore properly. Even better, I now had at least some concept of what it was I'd be seeing. Context is a useful thing.

I began my day at the Sky Tower, an observation platform that rises a thousand feet from the lobby of my hotel. (How's that for convenience?) From the upper platform, I got good views of the Harbour Bridge and the marina where two Americas Cup challenges were fought, as well as the wedge-shaped Town Hall, a graceful Victorian structure that stares contemptuously at the globe of Planet Hollywood across the street. The Sky Tower advertising announces ...