Auckland/first impressions.

Looking out of the window of the airplane in its descent to the accompaniment of a screaming tot suffering from ear pain, I had my first view of Auckland which is a harbour City about 2/3rd up on the western coastline of the North Island.

It has a population of 1.5 million and is New Zealand’s most populous city although Wellington is the capital.

The skyline as we drove in reminded me not of the U.K. but an American  city, as did the grid system of roads. The hotel is next to the Sky City Tower, the tallest building in Auckland, which has a casino and revolving restaurant. It’s a modern, vibrant city.

At 6-30 I met up with an old lawyer pal I last met at a conference some 20 years ago. You age in 21 years and Barry’s skin had more sag but I had no difficulty in recognising him.

He drove me to the university, park, back into the Centre and along the shoreline to St Helier which had excellent views of the city. The St Helier Bay cafe, his choice of restaurant, was a popular venue.

We had to wait for some 10 minutes before the Thai greeter with a gleaming smile led us to the table. It was a buzzy place, the sort of restaurant you might find in Florida, and the food was good enough. Barry had fish and chips, I had fried zucchini and John Dory. With an excellent bottle of Sauvignon Blanc the cost was about £55 per head.

I particularly liked, as I took the bill to the cash machine, that the young lady went through each item ordered to verify that it had been.

Afterwards Barry drove me over the eight-lane Auckland Bridge, longer than the Sydney Bridge. Again we saw spectacular views of the shoreline by night.

It’s early days but the image that some have of New Zealand (viz. the Isle of Wight in the 1950s) seem to be wholly unfair and inaccurate.

It’s a cool, modern city with a definite buzz.

You do not even feel you are are tucked away in a corner of the world what with satellite tv keeping you abreast of the world’s events although you are 11 hours ahead of GMT.