We first explored the waterfront area which was just a few blocks from the Stamford Plaza. This nice old building is still the starting place for ferries that run to the various local islands. It also houses restaurants and shops. Auckland appears to be a nice mix of old among the new.

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After being on the plane so long it felt good to walk around. Man-made Viaduct Harbor is home to beautiful boats and upscale restaurants. Unfortunately we were ready for lunch (early since we had breakfast at 4 AM) but restaurants were still serving breakfast.

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We continued strolling and saw one of the ships that competed in the Americas Cup as well as this bench sculpture of albatross in flight.

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We discovered this wonderful little spot on the water to relax and finally have lunch.

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After lunch we hopped on the red free bus which took us around the city. We got off at the Skytower and wandered around that area for a bit. Kiwis (which is how New Zealanders refer to themselves) love adventure and consider themselves quite crazy. Can you believe we saw bungee jumpers coming off the Skytower!! We later found out that bungee jumping actually was first done here.

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We walked back to the hotel from the Skytower and relaxed a while before appearing for cocktails, dinner and an opportunity to get to know everyone in our group. There are only 24 of us which will be nice. Dinner was great but bed sounded good - what a long, long day!!

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After a delicious buffet breakfast we all met at our bus and took off for a tour of the city. This is going to be a fun group to hang around with for the next three weeks.

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We got to view the skyline from this vantage point.

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Jules told us this story about the widening of the Auckland Harbor Bridge: When lanes had to added, some Japanese company came up with a solution whereby the lanes were built off site and then kind of clipped on each side - thus, it's referred to as the "nippon clip-on".

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Our next stop was Tarlton's Underwater World and Antarctic Encounter where we got to see a penguin colony...

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...watch the stingrays be fed and walk through a tube with sharks on each side and above us...

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...and see the caspian terns waiting to find their next meal.

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Our last stop on the tour was at the top of Mount Eden where we had a 360 degree view of the city with the Pacific on one side and the Tasman Sea on the other. Spectacular!!

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Off to Aotea Square Saturday Market where we found these women who were selling their lalangas (painted hand made paper)...

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...and this juggler that not only squeezed his body through a tennis racket but also juggled atop this box on a roller!

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