Day 3 - Auckland

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Got out of the Airport at 6AM or so (local time).

Shared a Van ride with a US Olympic hopeful Windsurfer. She was very nice, and gave us some good pointers for New Zealand travel (like you don't have to tip!!). Her gear was also VERY heavy... a full board and sail, plus wetsuits, and spare parts. We helped!

Got to the Number One House B&B in Auckland. it is just under the bridge (literally) across the harbor from Downtown. A spectacular view in the morning.. it should be very nice at night too. Walked 3 minutes to the Ferry and after a 10 minute ferry ride, was in downtown Auckland.

Walked around Auckland for a bit, looking for breakfast. Then we were looking for phone options. Passed by a large gathering of people protesting something. They ended up marching down the main drag (Queen St) right by us. Took good pictures (to come soon).

We decided that a cell phone just is too expensive. We are going with a prepaid phone card and will call from our hotels. We will endeavour to check my yahoo email every day (sometimes 2 times) if you need to get a hold of us. We will also update family (and Dave Spencer) with our hotel number in case we need to be contacted.

We ended up taking the bus to the Auckland Zoo. Wow, that is a big zoo. We neglected to look at the map and just started walking around. We spent 2 hours walking around, and then we peeked at a map, and we had only hit 1/3 of the Zoo. We left.

Going to grab a bottle of wine and hang out with the hosts this evening. Maybe hit a cafe called Sausalito near our B&B. Hopefully, we can get our host to explain what the protest was about.

A very nice day for our first day in NZ.

We fly to Queenstown (not Queensland) tomorrow and will stay there for 2 nights.

Love to everyone

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Photos

Protestors
Kiwis protesting against police's recent use of terrorism act to arrest someone (since overturned).
(camera was being wierd today)