Auckland - pics attached

We had a long flight from Honolulu to Sydney but they had free movies and delicious food. I asked how much the cocktails were and they are free! Too bad drinking is not a great idea when you are flying. I tried a vodka and ginger beer, which was quite tasty. The meals even came with real glasses and plastic utensils that were quite sturdy. So much nicer than what we're used to. They even gave us mango ice cream bars!

We got delayed out of Sydney going to Auckland as there was a tornado that day in Auckland that killed 3 people and made 250 people homeless. We got to our hotel at 3:00 a.m. We stayed at the Bella Vista Airport Express, very sad mattress but we were both so exhausted we fell asleep instantly.

We are really missing the tour guides we had on our trip to Asia last winter, they were fantastic. Courtney and Megan we really wish you were here! We forgot our jet lag pills in our checked bag and no one made us delicious goody bags. Our restaurant choices have been questionably and Urban Spoon isn't in NZ yet.

Back to the airport in the morning to pick up our rental car. We asked for a bigger car so we could fit most of our luggage in the trunk. Great idea until you try to drive in a city on the left hand side of the road. I think I have the left side down but 30 years of muscle memory telling me the turn signals are on the left is causing a lot of windshield wiper action.

We spent 3 nights in Quest apartments downtown and were much happier with the accommodations there. Our first night there we wandered down the street and tried a Malaysian restaurant called the Mustard Seed but found it kind of bland, afterwards we picked up some groceries. The next morning we walked down to the harbour and tried to get on a boat to a wildlife refuge but missed it by about 10 minutes. We had a great morning walking around the harbour and then decided to have lunch at the Waterfront that was really good, I had a Mexican coffee (Kailua and Bailey's) and a spanish omelet. While we were walking around we saw lots of beautiful boats and restaurants, then we found a park that had giant lounging chairs where you could fit at least two people, a beautiful play area for children, and the cleanest bathrooms installed in a shipping crate. We also stumbled upon an area where they had information about New Zealand's history in the America's Cup and a NZ team store.

In the afternoon we decided we could walk to the Domain from the harbour. We walked up Queen street that had lots of shopping and good people watching, we passed the art gallery and almost made it to the Domain but found we couldn't get there because there was a freeway in our way. We were near the Auckland University and St. Paul's Church, we turned back and stopped briefly in Albert Park and then went to the art gallery and saw an exceptional photographic exhibition that was pictures of many bands and musicians, some before they were famous. We really enjoyed that but were pretty exhausted so we took a cab back to the apartment. We had dinner at the pub in the Albion hotel. The place was dead and the food not great but it was close to where we were staying.

Caught the boat the next morning to Tiritiri Matangi, which is an island that has been turned into a bird sanctuary. Volunteers have planted endemic and local trees and vegetation and rid the island of all predators like rats and mice. With a varied habitat the endemic and endangered birds are returning and being reintroduced. We didn't see any kiwis or takahes but saw lots of tuis, fantails, saddlebacks and stitchbirds. We went on a two hour guided hike, had lunch, checked out the gift shop and were back in Auckland around 5 p.m. Richard had had enough of the crappy restaurants near our apartment so we stayed down near the harbour and had a great thai meal at Thai Chilli (sic) and then went to Movenpick, an ice cream place for dessert.

We had planned on driving to the Domain but were running slowly this morning and decided to head out to our next stop, which was Whangarei. We stopped in Waipu and had a surprisingly good lunch at the bakery (pre made sandwiches and slices) and I checked out the local art collective. We saw some cute calfs in the back of some guy's truck, hope they weren't somebody's veal dinner. Had a bit of a challenging drive (very windy uphill road) to our B & B, Eden House. It's gorgeous here, stunning scenery everywhere you look. Lovely green rolling hills, ocean views and clear blue skies. Had dinner at the local tavern in Parua Bay, excellent fish and chips made of the local catch of gurnard.