NZ visual diary - entry 56

boat & bridge - Viaduct Harbour

This afternoon brought my first walkabout in more than a week, as I had been beset by illness.

It was a lovely afternoon, especially mild for mid-winter. In typical Kiwi style, there were plenty of people on the move in tee shirts and bare feet. You've got to admire (and quietly wonder about) those folk who truly believe that New Zealand is an island nation situated in the Tropics.

Not feeling quite ready for one of my 5-7km jaunts, I decided to meander about the harbour area, wending my way in a counter-clockwise direction from the west end of Wynyard Quarter eastward to the edge of Princes Wharf and back to my apartment on the other side of the Wynyard Crossing Bridge, a pedestrian passageway.

If memory serves me well, the bridge pictured in this image dates back over a century. Its mechanical infrastructure includes the original hydraulic mechanism for raising the bridge. Big sail rigs these days navigate to and from the inner harbour via the Wynyard Crossing Bridge, which can be elevated upon request by the harbour captain.

I hope that this image conveys some of the maritime splendour -- and nostalgia -- for which Auckland's harbour area is well known.