We're in New Zealand!

We arrived in Auckland on Saturday, January 26.

Flying over New Zealand 

Getting closer to Auckland

We've landed...

in Middle Earth...Paul is excited

Another stamp!

Paul and I have been busy exploring the surrounding area. We are lucky enough to stay with my cousins, the Pan Family in a suburb of Auckland for the first few days. They even took us to the Auckland Harbour our first night.

With cousin Pan Li

Harbour at dusk

We heard the best way to get around New Zealand is to rent a car...another thanks to my cousins for scoring us a good deal at a local rental company - less than half the price of a Hertz or Avis! It does take some time to getting used to driving on the right side of the car on the left side of the road.

Paul getting familiar with the Vitz...

We started exploring on Sunday and went up Mt. Eden to see a spectacular view of the city as well as the crater.

View of the city from Mt. Eden

Can you see the crater behind us?

New York is 14,197 km away

We also ventured to the Auckland Domain, a large park with nice trails and duck ponds.

We felt like we were filming in Jurassic Park along "Lovers Walk"

Paul is trying to hide from me...as usual

Some of these geese looked fake

On Monday (a holiday for Auckland Anniversary Day) we headed to Waiheke Island via ferry. We finished earlier than expected and since the days are so long, we decided to visit Murawai Beach (where a gannet colony lives) and swing by Arataki Visitor Centre (where there are really nice views) as well.

The city skyline as we depart Auckland for Weiheke Island 

Weikheke Island; we did not partake in wine tasting at the many vineyards...learned our lesson in Napa!

Self portrait as we walked around Oneroa 

Paul is getting impatient with all my picture taking while on the ferry back to Auckland

Murawai Beach

Gannet colony behind us

You can see them better here...

We actually went inside that cave - it was cold, dark, and smelled like dirty sea water - we didn't stay long

I don't know why I'm doing a jumping jack pose, perhaps to show how small I am in this frame

Putting the tripod to use!

The ever Regal Paul