Saturday 29 March 2014

Auckland

Our last city before we leave. 1.4 million people live here among the volcanos. It's a beautiful bustling city. I love that at the crosswalks, traffic stops in all directions so you can cross diagonal if you want! Pretty cool. 
We checked into our hotel , went for a stroll around and found a nice little pizza bar with some live music for dinner.
On Friday the 28th, we did the hop on hop off tour in the morning and in the afternoon we took the ferry across to a little town called Devonport and climbed Mt. Victoria for a great view of the Harbour. 
In the evening we met up with Wayne, a friend of Stephen's ( Mike's brother ) from Queens. Wayne has now lived in NZ for 25 years. He took us to his favourite Spanish restaurant where he made sure we got a taste of all things NZ. We ate shrimp, calamari, fish and lamb. I had to draw the line at mussels. I wasn't ready for that.

    Wayne, monster shrimp, Mike's lamb


On Saturday we got back on the ferry and this time went to the island of Rangitoto. A volcano that erupted only 600 years ago. You can still see piles and piles of lava. We climbed to the top and once again had lovely views of Auckland city and the surrounding islands. We also witnessed a marriage proposal at the top. An American couple on vacation with their family. That was pretty neat!

    Made it to the top, so much lava

 In the afternoon, Wayne took us to Muriwai Beach on the west coast of Auckland. What an amazing sight! The beach is so long and flat that it's an official highway with speed signs and everything. With a 4 wheel drive vehicle, you can drive on it .... For miles!!! The waves were almost dangerous looking, they were so big. There were a lot of people out there with dirt bikes, 4 wheelers and other toys. 
After the beach we returned to another Spanish restaurant for one last delicious meal in NZ. 
What a trip! 3 weeks is only long enough to get a little taste of this country but we are ready to move on. 

Next stop, Cuenca Ecuador!!

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