Our starting point today was the Auckland docks. While eating breakfast at a cafe, we watched a RORO ship pack up after unloading its cargo. Trucks were leaving carrying a variety of cars. We crossed the road after leaving the cafe and had a close look. Some quite unfamiliar badges. This unfamiliarity with the cars was a new experience for me, I am taking lots of photos of cars and their badges.
We continued along a beautiful old steel fence painted a bright and cheery red. The fence was quite heavily decorated and the posts were topped by what appeared to be very ornate gas lamps.

At the other end of the fence was the Ferry Building. We had just missed a ferry, so we spoke to one of the ladies in the tour desk who recommended a couple of tours for us. The first was due to start in half an hour, a small owner-run bus tour of Auckland highlights. We combined that with a tour of Devonport - which involved a ferry ride.
The first tour started at 10, so we had just over half an hour to kill. We had a bit of a walk around and checked out more car badges and a small market with local foods. Because of the tours we couldn't really buy anything which was a shame because it looked quite interesting.
Our tour was due to run for about 3½ hours. Our driver's name was Michael, and there were about 8 of us on the tour. Michael drove a HiAce van, and we sat behind him. The passenger seat was taken up by a Canadian gentleman who had arrived on a cruise ship which had left the night before. Michael first took us to see the changes made in Auckland due their America's Cup defence. He was very interested in the America's Cup, as he was the man who made the wetsuits for the crew which first lost the cup to the Australian contenders in 1983.
We drove around the waterfront to a place where there was a great view of the Auckland Harbour Bridge. We got to see bungy jumpers, and there were many boats. We then drove over the bridge, then under the bridge to his secret spot with an awesome view of the harbour. The roads to get to this spot were extremely narrow and could not have been navigated by a normal tour bus. Michael explained how the blocks - "sections" - in this suburb were divided up to allow higher density housing without the loss of the old timber houses. Back over the bridge we then proceeded to Mount Eden via the K road which had an interesting history. Mount Eden has a deep volcanic crater instead of the usual summit. The views from here were amazing.
After Mount Eden we drove through Parnell and continued around the harbour were we saw more beautiful scenery. The Canadian gentleman turned out to be very interesting. He owned a 1978 442 which he had sold and then found later in a barn and restored. Michael was also a car enthusiast, so the 4 of us had a great time car spotting and discussing various cars. I hope the other passengers also enjoyed it! We also got to see the RORO ship leave the harbour, it was interesting to see the route it took, we got a bit of a feel for the way the harbour layout worked.

We got back after 2pm. The tour ran for 4 hours.
Brett and I went back to the lady at the tour sales desk. She said that again, we had just missed a ferry. The next was in 25 minutes but the next tour didn't start for an hour. We chose to take the next ferry and wander about over in Devonport until the tour started. The ferry trip was fun but very short. There was a fantastic second hand bookshop on the wharf. We killed a bit of time looking through the books but didn't find anything we wanted to buy. There were many interesting boats going by, it being a weekend, so we took some more snaps.
It turned out that we were the only two on this, the last Devonport tour of the day. We were shown the site of the only public execution to have taken place in New Zealand, and on to North Head which had gun emplacements which were open to the public. Brett and I walked through some tunnels and were amazed at what was open the public and not fenced off. Our tour guide Graeme then took us through Cheltenham which was reclaimed land which joined Devonport (originally an island) to the mainland. We then went up Mount Victoria to see an amazing retractable gun. Apparently the only time it was fired (for practice)it broke half the windows in Devonport. Graeme was another interesting tour guide. His father was in the Royal Navy, and Graeme himself had spent 8 years in the Naval Reserves in New Zealand. He dropped us back off at the ferry terminal and we made our way, tired but happy, to the supermarket to get some supplies before heading back to our room for a meal then bed.