Auckland, New Zealand

Well, we all like Auckland. Meaning Jenni and I who have been here a number of time before, and Bob and Brenda who were new to Auckland. Busy town for New Zealand, even congested. We had a nice bus tour around the city to see all the changes made since our last visit and all the new construction planned to accommodate the world in 2021 when Auckland hosts the America’s Cup yacht race.

Two things they love here, sailboats and Rugby, the All Blacks. I just posted a few pictures of our tours here which included a visit to their famous aquarium, Kelly Tarlton’s Sea Life. It was fun. We got a ride from the ship on the “Shark Bus” and just made it home before the sky opened up.

These guys are about two feet long and look like they could resist capture and melted butter.

We toured the historic community of Devonport along the way and it looked very like Bellingham to us.

This lake is an ancient volcano crater right in the city.

There are so many yachts it is hard to believe.

Our new captain took over the ship today and we had a half-way-through-the-trip party. Now we are headed toward Wellington with a day at sea tomorrow.

Note from Jenni: As we’ve said before the crew officers are wonderful and go to almost any length to make us happy. Case in point: one of our officer friends had an underwater camera when we went snorkeling in Bora Bora and today he gave me his pictures of our adventure so I share them here. He was most fascinated with the rays so I don’t have much to show you of the beautiful fish 🙁