Auckland Evening

First impressions of Auckland: clean, amazing light, view of the water everywhere.

I arrived on Monday evening and once I’d found my hotel set off down Queen St, the main artery of Auckland’s CBD. Over Queen St itself, we’ll draw a veil – picturesque it isn’t, nor very interesting. But Queen St leads to the harbour and that is picturesque – full of ships of every size and shape, from naval vessels through container ships to little sailboats.

The Hilton in Auckland is perched on a pier and looks like a cruise ship.

I decided it ought to have a bar with a good view, and indeed it had. The bar was called Bellini and thanks to the power of suggestion I ordered a classic peach bellini. I sipped it and watched containers being lowered into a ship. It must be the five year old boy in me, but I love this: something about the bright colours of the containers and the simple puzzle of slotting them all into the ship.