Viaduct Harbour

Today I'm going to show you a very small part of Auckland's harbour. In the past, this area was all industrial, with fuel storage tanks and rough edges everywhere. You'll see that the harbour and especially the portion known as the Wynyard Quarter has been reborn, or rather rebuilt, into a lively, beautiful part of the city.

This is the boat we once took out into the Hauraki Gulf and the Firth of Thames on a whale watching tour.  We saw lots of dophins, and finally, a fin whale. We were told that our whale was about 60 feet long. Not a huge one. Fin whales are the second largest species, next to the blue whale, and can grow to be about 80 feet long. 

The harbour is criss-crossed with bridges 

This is the view from the middle of a pedestrian draw bridge.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCS-_xDLJuY

That's Rangitoto of course in the distance. It's about 4 kilometers off shore. 

ASB was formerly known as the Auckland Savings Bank. The Auckland Fish Market building stands beyond it.  (to its right)

The Event Center hosts conventions and shows of all sorts. 

These are water benches. 

This little reflecting pool and sculpture is not far from the Auckland Fish Market. The AFM was THE place for fish in the old days. The fleets would supply it and it distributed fish to the area. I get the impression though that this area was a tough part of town. 

Today, the AFM has a culinary school, trendy restaurants galore, and live jazz. It's currently under renovation so much of it's glory has been quieted, but it'll come back by the end of the year I'm told and be better than ever. 

That's the Auckland Harbour Bridge in the distance. It was the scene of a Guiness Book World Record attempt on or about May 16, 2017. 

Kiwi Mike Heard just set a new bungee jumping world record with 430 jumps from the Auckland bridge in 24 hours. On the left in the picture, you can see what I think might be part of his bungee line dangling below the bridge. I had read that he would be attempting his record the day I shot this picture, but clearly he and his crew must have been on a break. And I know that he did a lot of jumping during the night. (I had a video of his jumping here when I first wrote this post but I checked today and it's been taken down. Sorry)

 On my way back to the train, I realized that I wanted some lunch when I passed this interesting special. The beef cheek I found out, was roasted slowly overnight and shredded in the morning like pulled pork is produced. 

This was a surprise.  What's he doing on their wall? That's Samuel L. Jackson, aka 'Jules' in Pulp Fiction. In one scene from the movie he tasted and commented on a 'Big Kahuna Burger.'  It was not a Burger Boy Beef Cheek Burger. Like him though, I did find my burger to be tasty.  -djf

(This link takes you to an eleven second long clip from that movie. There is no violence in this clip.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecc0nbg9m-8