Auckland continued
The wonderful suburb and little port town of Devonport is a short and very lovely ferry ride away. In fact, there is a whole network of ferries offering fast and cheap transportation to the suburbs and islands in the harbor. They all leave from the ferry terminal on the docks on a regular schedule 7 days a week. Grab an ice cream or hot chocolate from one of the super little eateries in the ferry building, and hop aboard.
Don’t miss the Maritime museum, with videos, hands-on exhibits, and even a world class model maker you can watch as he creates his wonderous ships.
Accommodation is cheap and fairly plentiful all over New Zealand, and ranges from 5 star to backpacker hostels. Lest you think you are too old to be a backpacker, rest assured that they are cheap, fairly clean even in the large cities, and cater to people of all ages, and are a great way to meet people.
In the 2 weeks I was there, I spent $10 NZ in most of them, except for in the cities, where I paid about $16-30 per night in the spring season (November 2007) and in most cases had a private room with en suite bathroom. I booked them online through the internet very quickly and easily.