Auckland

Dawn found us docked in Auckland... Here cruise ships dock downtown... Far away from the commercial port with its containers and wood chips...

Our cruise ends here... we have breakfast one last time... We gather our carry-ons, and make our way down the gangway, pause at the bottom to let the dog smell our bags, find our bags among the "Yellow 1" group, the outside to find Tony, our driver and guide..

We load bags into his van, and set off... Once in the van, it doesn't yet feel like we have left the ship... More like another day tour... We head west, through suburbs, into the hills, climbing, headed for the Tazmin Sea on the outer side... New Zealand is quite narrow here... In places a short walk from the port, which opens onto the Pacific, and several shallow bays, near the airport, which open onto the Tazmin..

We climb hills, leaving the city and shops behind, now starting to glimpse a view of the breakers to the west... below we can see a cove, with a large rock... The beach where the movie The Piano was filmed...

We descend to a canyon need the beach... There is a water fall... A short walk takes to a second larger waterfall... The path is easy... The foliage is thick, most of the plants are unfamiliar... As wild as it is, it feels strangely safe... Unlike Australia where ever spider is poisonous, where a great variety of snakes, all apparently deadly, where man eating crocodiles lurk... New Zealand is safe, home of flightless birds, no snakes, and only a couple of lizards or skinks, not of them a threat... It would take hours and a sharp machete to break a trail through the forest, but man eating spiders would not be an issue.

Back to the van, then down to the beach... And a community comprised of houses, a caravan park, a surf shop, a kindergarten, and a small general store... at Piha, for all else it is a 20 mile drive across the mountain... We get a coffee, and walk the beach...

Back to the van, back up hill away from this beach, up towards the divide... But turning back towards the beach, to a cliff above a different beach, the headlands home to a breeding colony of Gannetts... We were told the numbers were greatly reduced as this was the end of the season... There were still lots of bird present... Adults, white with wings marked in black... Many flying, or properly soaring, riding the updrafts as the winds collide with the cliffs. In the rookery are the babies, as large as their parents, in dark brown... Testing wings, and begging for a meal... Occasionally a parent returns, and the two birds, parent and baby lock bills as the baby is fed.

From the rookery, we descend steps and wooden walkways to shoreside rocks to the beach, back to the van, to a seaside cafe for lunch...

Back to the van, back up and over the hill... we stop to walk down a path to a lone large Kiri tree... Then on to a winery for a tasting...

Now, back into the City... We walk the waterfront... The America's Cup is everywhere. The last of the mono hull boats sits in a cradle, now outdoor sculpture... This once industrial area is now public space... The America's cup was the catalyst for the transformation... This may have been the example, that lead to the vision of how the race might transform San Francisco...

Back in the van, now to One Tree Hill (sadly, the one tree is now missing, the victim of a protester) site of an overlook and monument to Sir John Logan Campbell. The hill a (hopefully) extinct volcano, with sheep cattle grazing in the two craters. From the top you can see inlets of the Tamzin sea and the airport to one side, the Auckland's harbor, opening on to the Pacific... We head towards the airport, and our hotel where we will spend the last night of our vacation...

The hotel, for tonight our hotel is located on the airport, across from the International terminal where we go at dawn to catch our flight... We check in... Tina and I walk across the street to the terminal... To scope things out... We return to our room to rearrange the stuff, moving things from bag to bag, making sure the two checked bags are less than 50 lbs each... We go downstairs, have dinner in the hotel... Then back upstairs... I log on to the Internet and put up a couple blog posts... I start this one, but it isn't done in time to post... I check emails... No particular or unexpected news from home... I put the computer and IPad on charge and go to bed...

For tomorrow, we fly...