We Love Auckland!

Falling People - Sky Tower

Large Draw Bridge Gate

Family outing in Auckland

Family as seen through Pipe

Sitting in a Engine Foghorn

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We got up and did some school work before heading out to explore the world. This is truly a great city. The people are awesome, there is tons of outdoor space, it is clean, beautiful harbor, lots of walking paths. It is a bit overcast, but who cares....not us! We have to move our car from the overnight spot we have found so we drive around town until we discover a public parking garage. Once we resolve the issue with the car, we walk along some nice cobblestone streets and come out at the Sky Tower. All of a sudden, we look up and see someone falling from the top of the Sky Tower which is 600 feet in the air. Oh my god....is my first reaction until I realize that this person has paid a great deal of money to be harnessed to some extension wires leading from the outer rim of the tower to a platform on the ground. It is amazing and give us vertigo just looking at the tower from the ground. Wow....what a rush. We continue walking toward the harbor and find what is known as the Viaduct Harbor. There are a lot of really beautiful Yachts along with some of the America's Cup catamarans that you can hire to take you on a three hour cruise (right, Gilligan?) Hudson and Sam play a game to win a rugby ball and they win!!!! Yea!!! We spend a leisurely mid-day walking along the quais, bridges and streets of downtown

Draw Bridge allowing access

Maori Carvin

harbor area and eventually duck into a side street cafe for lunch. The man running the place is from Taiwan and he is hilarious. He has us rolling in the aisles. We all enjoy a good old fashioned hamburger. It is one of the best ever. They put sliced beets on their burgers. We are stuffed by the time we leave, but continue to amble all the way back to our hotel. Despite the fact that we are drop dead tired, Paulie and I decide to locate a used bookstore I have found online in hopes of finding some literature for the kids. We drive up to Karangahape Road (or as the Taiwanese guy we met says "the name is too long so nobody call is that...we just "K" road") We find it and get our car parked, walk along the nice boutique shops and arrive at the store about 4 minutes after it has closed. The consolation prize is we have found a nice little part of town that we want to share with the kids. We return to the hotel and pretty much collapse on the sofa....we estimate that we have walked nearly 6 miles over the course of the day and we are ready to put our feet up. We have a simple dinner in the room, watch a little TV (which is a rarity these days) and hit the hay.