Auckland Tempts Me to Stay — to Sail, Perhaps Even to Study

Days 57-59, 2026 Grand World Voyage

Monday to Wednesday, March 2-4, 2026; Auckland and Paihia, New Zealand.

Great food isn’t all that Auckland has to offer. I almost enrolled in college! Well, not really, but I was tempted.

After we shopped for art supplies after arriving Monday morning, Elaine and I walked back through the University of Auckland’s city campus. It happened to be the first day of O-Week. O for orientation. Students filled green spaces where clubs, organizations and vendors were doing their best to attract attention. Food booths filled another plaza, all surrounded by new buildings with giant windows.

Last summer in Glasgow, Scotland, I rued the fact that in my rush to finish college in three years, I hadn’t spent a semester abroad. Glasgow would have been great. Auckland, too, and apparently it even has a school of fine arts.

In fact, we toyed with whether we could just travel the world for a few years, spending a semester each at great colleges in wonderful locations. A student visa would get us around pesky short-term tourist visa limits. Would just one course be enough to qualify?

First step – get the college t-shirts. Done. I love the logo with three kiwis and an open book.

I thought I might try sketching the nearby St. Paul’s Church, but realized its details would take me too long. I should have just sketched the workers hanging off the side of the tall building behind it.

But we pressed on through Albert Park, a place where I’ve enjoyed a picnic lunch in the past, to join our friends for our Ahi lunch. It was a beautiful day to be out walking.

Later that afternoon on the ship, front desk manager Jonah (a friend from last year’s Nieuw Statendam cruises) was still feeling the thrill of walking around outside Auckland’s Sky Tower with guest services manager John and Mariner manager Kumar. It was too windy for bungee jumps, but regardless, this is something you will never see me doing.

Tuesday was just as nice. Elaine left on a winery tour while I walked along the waterfront, first past the New Zealand Maritime Museum. I’ve spent hours there before and believe it may be my all-time favorite maritime museum.

The museum explores early seafarers throughout Polynesia, European explorers looking for the fabled Great Southern Land and European immigrants who sought new beginnings here. And then it takes a turn to celebrate the rise of a yachting nation and its quest for the America’s Cup.

After Australia II’s upset victory in 1983 to end the New York Yacht Club’s 132-year winning streak, New Zealand was unsuccessful in its first America’s Cup challenge in 1988. But the Kiwis came back to win in 1995, 2000 and for the last three consecutive races in 2017, 2021 and 2024.

The hull of the giant KZ 1, New Zealand’s 1988 challenger, sits in front of the museum, a symbol of what many New Zealanders probably think was an unfair match, when Dennis Conner countered with a much faster catamaran.

Continuing my waterfront walk, I passed busy marinas and crossed the harbor drawbridge.

Eventually, I reached the walkway’s end at a “superyacht” harbor. Among the beautiful boats there was the Sea Eagle, a 265-foot-long superyacht that, at least in 2020, was the world’s largest aluminum sailing yacht.

On the walk back, I wandered through the seafood market and passed a number of restaurants with large patios, still too early for the lunch crowd.

Friends Bill and Mary Ann were heading the opposite way and we stopped for a chat, not realizing we were on the draw bridge until the alarms went off. I hurried across, barely making it before the gate “spanked” me as it closed.

The Bay of Islands at the north tip of New Zealand’s north island was our second and last port before sailing for Australia. On Wednesday, our tender dropped us in the center of Paihia, the small beach community that usually is a short shuttle bus ride from the tender pier we’ve previously used.

We browsed the craft market – lots of wonderful items but nothing that made it into my shopping bag. I did get a t-shirt at Bad Habits restaurant and bar, where I had one of the best gins I’ve tasted in a while.

Back on the ship, I discovered one of many unadvertised “pop-up” food events – this one a gelato bar in the Lido. We’re never without an opportunity to eat. To top it off, after dinner was the Orange Party, for which Elaine and I donned our wigs.