9/28/06 – Flight from Brisbane to Aukland on schedule. After checking into the hotel we took a walk over to the city tower, which is claimed to be the tallest building in the southern hemisphere. In Australia, they claim that the Kiwis added a spire on the top of their tower so that it would be a few feet higher than the tower in Sydney. We rode up to the observation tower and the views of the city were spectacular. In New Zealand form, there is a 50 floor bungee jump that takes off right before the observation platform. While we were watching a person jumped and it was quite a sight to see.
We walked down to the harbor for dinner and had my first White Mains fritters for dinner.
9/29/06 – Up early. Our hotel room had a washer/dryer and and we had a lot of dirty laundry. Our tour guide, Evonne, picked us up at 9 and we went on a tour of Aukland and the rainforest area north of the city. We had lunch at a café overlooking the city from up in the hills. Took a few photos from Mount Eden, a dormant volcano. Aukland was built among a series of 49 extinct volcanoes. Looking down on the city from the highlands you are struck by the two harbors with a modern downtown area in between. As you look around the countryside it is very green and lush with vegetation. After our tour we cleaned up and walked back down to the harbor area for a look at their 1988 Americas Cup boat on display (the one that lost in a controversial match to Dennis Connors in a Catamaran). We had dinner in an Aukland hotspot, Soul. Great food and slow service.
9/30/06 – Up early again, pack to travel and picked up at 7:20 for out bus trip/tour to Rotorua.