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Day 49 Auckland
Last day in New Zealand, I can't believe we will be leaving tomorrow; it's beginning to feel almost like home now. The weather not too brilliant on waking today with grey cloud covering most of the sky and no wind to shift it and of course today is the day we decided we would get the ferry to Waiheke island. The Dawn Princess was in port today which we got a really good view of from the departing ferry and then when we rounded the end of the pier there was Queen Mary II. How good was it to see a ship from not just the UK but from Southampton! The sightings didn't end there though as just a couple of minutes out in the bay the ferry slowed down as Orca had been spotted. They were quite a distance away and due to the number of people all crowding around the rails I didn't manage to get much of shot but did get a fin. Then as we docked at Mariatia Wharf on Waiheke island Bill spotted a huge Sting Ray; it must have been about 1m across but this time I didn't get the camera out in time before it disappeared. Apparently on talking to one of the locals this ray is a regular in the harbour but this was only one of the babies! Mum is apparently so big that she has to curl her fins up to get between the piers, boy would we liked to have seen her. By the time that we had seen all this we had missed the bus though, they only go once an hour, so we walked to Oneroa and on down to the beach; a lovely almost deserted beach with fine golden sand in a sheltered bay. The weather was still not great, in fact we had a bit of rain whilst walking so we were contemplating going straight back to the ferry and back to Auckland and then wham out comes the sun so in the end we had a lovely swim and sunbathe and managed to get the bus back to the ferry. Lovely trip back to Auckland in the sun but no further marine sightings sadly. Last meal down by the harbour, seafood platter tonight, simply scrummy but really filling. Back in the hotel now finishing a bottle of wine before we start packing for the flight at lunchtime tomorrow. This is probably my last blog from New Zealand unless I have time to pen a few lines at the airport so "E noho rā", goodbye from the land of the Kiwi……..
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