Auckland anniversary weekend and Auckland Domain

Lucky us!  Our sabbatical happened to overlap with the annual anniversary to celebrate the founding of Auckland and this year marked 175 years.  All along the waterfront, there were 3 days of free activities for all ages amongst an amazing selection of historic displays, indoor and outdoor installations, markets, food, music and entertainment. We had a lot of fun wandering around all kinds of events.  Literally thousands of people came from near and far to participate. 

 

Maori storyteller and musicians

A sailboat in the regatta

Dragon boat racing

So as we were walking along the harbor during the festival, I noticed this incredibly huge boat.  I asked a security guard about it and he said it was a private super yacht owned by a Russian, the largest yacht to ever dock in Auckland harbor.  I then looked it up on the internet and here's the story:

Serene is one of the world's largest private super yachts. She was built by Italian shipyard Fincantieri  and delivered to her owner in August 2011.  At delivery, she was one of the 10 largest yachts in the world with an overall length of 439.3 feet.  It has a crew of 52, 14 rooms and sleeps  24.  She was built for Yuri Scheffler, a Russian vodka tycoon, and cost $330m.  In the summer of 2014, Bill Gates leased the yacht for US$5 million per week.

Now THAT'S a boat!

After the festival, we took a walk to the Domain (park) where the Auckland War Memorial Museum is located.  We were lucky to slip in just before closing and went to a special exhibit:  The World of Wearable Art (WOW®). This is a leading arts event on international design, fashion and costume calendars, culminating every year in the annual WOW® Awards Show staged in Wellington — the creative capital of New Zealand.  We saw a short movie about the awards show and there were many of the creations on display in Auckland.  Here's a sample:

This piece was inspired by scrunched paper and lace

Woman/car

Elaborate textures

And my personal favorite, one of 5 unique BRASSIERES:

 aBRAcalypse Now (talk about uplifting!)

We then walked home via the Wintergarden greenhouses in the Domain.  A few samples of spectacular flowers:

Urapukapuka--A MUST!!!

Those of you who are ever-faithful readers know that we've oohed and ahhhed about many New Zealand sites and posted pictures to prove it.  But yesterday we came upon THE MOST INCREDIBLE views that has topped the list (so far!).

We took a 30-person ferry from Paihia to the island of Urapukapuka, one of 144 islands in the Bay of Islands.  There are many coves and bays around the island where people anchor their boats and either camp on the various beaches or hike around the island.  There are no facilities besides one cafe at the dock, so it's a very, very, very laid-back environment.

We hiked up and over many small hills on a track which had grass-covered sections that felt like walking on carpet.  And at the top of EVERY hill was another site of water/bays/coves/rocks/trees/boats.  It literally took our breath away.  See for yourself:

Our little yellow ferry boat after dropping us off

Holiday campers

 WOW!!!

So now, dear readers, don't you agree with us? 

Paihia...ahhhh...

We are now in Paihia in the Bay of Islands.  This is a small beach town with no end of walks/hikes/water sports/beaches/islands...lots to see and do.  Since it's summertime, the town is crowded, but once you walk about 30 seconds down the road, we're all by ourselves.

We went on a wonderful and varied 15k loop walk (took about 6 hours) that started near our motel and went up into the hills, through the forest, across the ridge and then down to the next little town of Opua at the water's edge and returned to Paihia along the coastline.  Here's some of what we saw:

 Beginning of the walk...

 ...through the forest...

...passing by different plant life...

...like this bright green moss...

...coming upon views like this...

...and bays like this...

and walking across raised boardwalks over swampy water

The last part of the track took a couple of hours walking right along the rocky coastline.  The tide was high so our feet got wet.  Oh well, the water felt great and cooled my aching toes!

 

The small rock ridge along the coastline.

The next day was to Wharepuke Falls and Rainbow Falls located near Kerikeri, a 20-minute drive from Paihia.  On this forest walk to these falls, we saw some unusual vegetation:

 Gnarly tree

 Close-up

 Tiniest fern

 An abundance of lily pads

Wharepuke Falls

 Rainbow Falls

Cascades of Rainbow Falls

The hike ended at an small clearing that had a restaurant, pretty gardens and naturally, a Tip Top ice cream stand.  This is also the location of New Zealand's oldest surviving stone building from the 1830's.  It has an interesting history:  started out as a trading post, was then a mission library, became an army barracks, was a center of Kauri tree gum trading, housed a boy's school, then became a general store and is now a tourist attraction as a museum and country store with wonderful (over-priced) 19th and 20th century collectables.  Really charming!

 Stone store at Kerikeri