Auckland, NZ

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After 26 hours of traveling, I made it to New Zealand. The flight actually wasn't too bad. It was dark for most of the flight so I slept and by the time we landed in Auckland at 4:15 am and I was ready to go. June, my step-grandmosther, got us a rental car, a cute Ford Focus back to help explore NZ. I practiced driving around a bit in the rental car parking lot before I got onto the traffic in Auckland. We wanted a car that had manual transmission...but it made it a little more challenging to adjust to the driving on the other side of the car and street as well as the popular roundabouts. I found my way to the hostel, the Yapping House, my sister and I am staying at then explored the city a little. In Auckland there are over 40 dormant volcanoes that make the landscape hilly. I hiked up Mt. Eden, which is right next to our hostel and then went to pick Michelle, my sister, up from the airport. We then visited One Tree Hill which is the largest dormant volcano in Auckland while the sun was setting and it looked over the city, it was beautiful! To catch more of the sunset, we drove to one of the many marinas that overlooks downtown. (Michelle will put some pictures up later and I will attach a link) We then ate at a small plates restaurant to try some local cusine and retired at 9:00 am to prepare for the next day.

Hugs and love from NZ!

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Photos

Mt. Eden
The dormant volcano near our hostel.