We drove the hour or so from Auckland airport into the city center. Parked at the very first parking place we found close to the Sky Tower. Turned out to be an elaborate-but-sleazy-feeling casino. We ate breakfast at a buffet place, which was outrageously expensive (probably our most expensive breakfast ever!) and not terribly memorable, other than the fact the total buffet spread was about the volume of food that one American would load onto his or her plate.
Here's a photo of that breakfast...MC eating spaghetti (a la "Elf") and DC drinking coffee while trying to figure out how to load $20 onto his NZ sim card so that the phone worked. The phones have been a source of tremendous confusion and merriment much of the day.
It was still early, so the sky tower was closed. Instead we walked down to the waterfront and caught the ferry to Rangitoto...here's the ferry terminal:
And a photo of CC after two nights of practically no sleep, DC looking sympathetic (?) while they sit on the ferry perusing a map of the volcanic island...
There are several trails around the island. We chose the relatively direct one up to the summit. It was a well maintained trail through lava fields and exotic vegetation. It's sort of tropical and sort of not. Never seen anything quite like it. The only animals we saw were assorted black birds. They make such distinctive, individual sounds. This one made me laugh out loud!
Various kids in lava fields...
Curious MC pondering the volcanic crater. It must be a very well drained crater, otherwise it would be full of water!
A livelier crew....
A view of Auckland. Sort of. The clouds moved in, so some of the time there was no view at all. This was a relatively clear spell...
Orewa is a beach town. Our house is about 100 yds from the beach and looks out over a large park. It has a swimming pool, which I really thought would be too cold to use...the highs are only in the low 70s, so it's not as tropical as it looks! But KC and MC have both spent a long time in there already.
CC collapsed into a deep sleep almost immediately we arrived and still hasn't woken up. The rest of us went out for a very late lunch at a fairly run down cafe just up the road. We were hungry enough that it didn't matter. We then found a grocery store, and loved gawking at all the variations in what is available. We emerged with a heaving cart load of stuff.
DC is sitting out on the patio fussing with the phones again. I'm inside blogging, with dinner bubbling away in the background. KC and MC just got out of the pool. SC probably sleeping. CC definitely sleeping.
All in all, a great first day :)
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