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I was privileged to be part of Lesley Whyte Photography's #MyAuckland VIP Day Tour on Saturday 30 September 2017.
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On my last day in Auckland (Day 3), I wandered around High St and Queen St. Sad to be flying back later in the day!
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Auckland at night is a strange city at night full of wondrous visions that I never encounter during the day.
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Sunset over the volcanic peak of Mt Wellington, overlooking the suburb of Stonefields built on the site of an old quarry.
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Mission Bay is a seaside suburb on Tamaki Drive with a nice fountain and some shops. Nearby is Bastion Point.
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Located just to the west of Viaduct Harbour, Wynyard Quarter has been progressively converted for residential apartments.
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Devonport is a harbourside suburb on the North Shore of Auckland, and hosts the Naval Base. It has great views of the harbour into the city.
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Had lunch at a place called The Landing at Riverhead, where Lesley spent her childhood. Best steak I have ever eaten - perfectly cooked.
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Muriwai Beach featuring black sand and a gannet colony on a large rock. We were there at low tide and the weather was overcast and rainy.
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From Albert Park, I explored Auckland City, starting from Khartoum Place where there is a memorial to the Women's Suffrage movement.
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Auckland University is located next to Albert Park. It is the largest, most comprehensive and highest-ranked university in New Zealand.
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Landed in Auckland last night. I had the morning to myself, so decided to explore Albert Park and the Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki.
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We did a Lord of the Rings Tour of New Zealand in April 2004 as part of Red Carpet Tours and visited many of the film locations.
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The "Action Figure" Version of the Lord of the Rings features action figurines re-enacting various scenes from the movies during our tour.
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Today is the "optional activities" day of the tour before we flew from Queenstown to Auckland. Some of us went on the Dart River Safari.
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We travelled from Te Anau to Queenstown, stopping by at Deer Park Heights, Arrowtown, Twelve Mile Delta, and Amon Hen.
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Today is a LOTR free day, as we travelled from Te Anau to visit the famous Milford Sound, and then returned back to Te Anau.
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We left Cromwell to head off towards Mavora Lakes. In the afternoon, we arrived at the lakeside town of Te Anau.
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We left Twizel for Ben Ohau Station, then a pine forest (Flight to the Ford). We also visited Bonspiel Station and finished up at Cromwell.
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We left Christchurch to visit the Courts of Edoras (actually, Mt. Sunday). After that, we continued to Twizel via the beautiful Lake Tekapo.
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Today we flew out of Wellington to Christchurch. After that, we wandered around and visited the Art Gallery and Botanical Gardens.
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We explored Wellington and Featherston today, including WETA, Dry Creek Quarry (Helms Deep/Minas Tirith) and Hutt River (River Anduin).
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We left Ohakune to visit Mokai Gravity Canyon, then Mt Victoria and watched Return of the King at Embassy Theatre in Wellington.
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We left Rotorua and stopped at Wai-O-Tapu, Huka Falls, Taupo, Meads Wall, and finished in Okahune to sleep in Billy Boyd's bed.
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We visited the Hobbiton Movie Set, and then stopped at Rotorua where we went to the Tamaki Maori Village for a traditional Maori Welcome.
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We arrived at Auckland on Good Friday around 9pm. We spent Saturday around the city, and Sunday around Takapuna.