Daniel is here!

Daniel arrived on Tue. Dec. 15 and we've been running around ever since. No time to work on the blog till today. It's wonderful having him here and exploring New Zealand with him!

While Miles was working, Daniel and I walked around parts of Auckland that I love. (You've already seen pictures of the Domain and Auckland War Memorial Museum.)

On Wed., we went to the Auckland Botanic Gardens which were amazing. We were there only a few hours and didn't finish because we needed to get back to the city to meet a friend at the Sky Tower downtown (which is the tallest building in the southern hemisphere).

Pohutukawa trees at the Botanic Gardens, also called
the New Zealand Christmas Tree, now in bloom



Multi-colored hydrangeas


Rose


Daniel and a sculpture at the Botanic Gardens

We looked at beautiful Auckland from the top of the Sky Tower, including watching people who participated in Sky Jump, basically being lowered by cables at very fast speeds from the top of the tower. Not for me!

View from the Sky Tower and the "jumper". I'm glad we were behind glass.
(This is a LIVE person, but he still might be a "dummy"!)

On Thur., Daniel practiced driving on the left side and is quite good at it. We went to Mission Bay, near central Auckland and to neighborhoods I had never been before.

The next day we drove to Mt. Eden in Auckland where you can drive the roundabout road up to the top of a dormant volcano. Greatest view of Auckland! And you can see a giant grass-covered crater. Just beautiful.

The crater at Mt. Eden with a view of Auckland. You can barely see Sky Tower in the distance. (It looks like a huge hypodermic needle.)


View from Mt. Eden

Then we were off to One Tree Hill, also at the top of a dormant volcano, where there is an obelisk, built by an English architect in 1912, honoring the Maori people (the One Tree is long gone!) Once again, beautiful views. This obelisk is in lovely Cornwall Park which is a huge hilly, grassy park with old buildings from 1910. You can just imagine the ladies having tea and cakes.

The top of the obelisk...

...and the bottom of the obelisk honoring the Maori people


Do you see Daniel in the middle of this amazing tree in Cornwall Park?

Our last stop of the day was to Coyle Park, a pretty little beach west of Auckland. It was fun just driving around, finding places on the map and just saying "Let's go!"

Sand cliffs at Coyle Park

Daniel and a Maori sculpture at Coyle Park

On Sat. Miles joined us and we were off on the ferry to Waiheke Island, about a 40 minute ride. This island is quite large and is well-known for its 18 wineries, restaurants, shops, etc. We did none of that: we wanted NATURE so we went on a very nice "bush" (forest) walk for about an hour, seeing giant palms and kauri trees. Really nice.

Daniel and me on our walk on Waiheke Island


Another interesting tree on the hike

We then took a bus to a Rocky Bay and walked on the barnacle-covered rocks which were very sharp. You really didn't want to fall on these solidified lava flows.

Rocky Bay

Another bus ride to Palm Beach which was a lovely, sandy beach with pretty cliffs which I've written about so many times before. You blog followers know what I'm talking about!

On Sun., we drove about an hour north of Auckland to Tawharanui Regional Park and hiked over pastureland, through forests and along the beach. What a DELIGHTFUL hike filled with variety.

We parked our car near the lagoon on the right and started our hike opposite Jones Bay


Those are REAL sheep along the hiking path. Not a ba-aa-aad view!


Another view...


And yet another view from the hike...


And another view... (I am getting SO repetitive...)


Our beloved sheep (yum yum) on the way down to Anchor Bay


We made it! Anchor Bay

Our last stop of the day was at Goat Island Marine Reserve where there is great snorkeling (but no goats!). Too bad we didn't have time for snorkeling (the real reason is the water is cold. Forget it.)

Goat Island Reserve


Miles and Daniel on the beach at the reserve