Auckland

Auckland was or first stop for 4 days and would also be our last stop before going home. This is a wonderful city with lots to do and see and we tried to take in as much as we could. We walked our backsides off everyday, which was good thing because those delicious meat pies have a million calories!

We found out the first night that our hotel room faced the Sky Tower, which is sort of like our Space Needle, and was lit up in blue at night. The harbor is beautiful and the first thing we found was Seattle Espresso, which had a mural of Seattle, yet the staff knew nothing about Seattle.

Nightlife is Auckland is centered around music, drinking and dancing, usually ending around 5:00 am. We found out that people here sleep in and even the buses don't really run much until 8:00 am. This was MY kind of town!

Public markets, arts & crafts, clothing stores and Sushi restaurants are plentiful. As Raccoons are to the Pacific NW, so too are the Possum to New Zealand. These marsupials are so abundant in the forests (and as road kill) that the Kiwis use the fur to knit clothing. Amazing how such an ugly animal can be used to create such beautiful clothing. We even saw one store that was selling Possum fur G-strings and nipple warms...honest!