Arrival

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Geo: -36.8474, 174.766

Arrived at 6am. Lost a day in travel/time change. Auckland is 1 day ahead and 3 hrs behind Vancouver. Had a nice drive through the surrounding area on a quiet, sunny, Sunday morning from the airport with a great driver. Turns out he also drove Prime Minister Harper and his daughter, so we felt privileged!.

Diverted up an extinct volcano, there are 50 in the region, to Mount Eden - wonderful panoramic views of the area around Auckland. There was a thin fog hanging over the City, but lush green everywhere.

The driver was kind enough to catch Bonnie and I in a photo with Auckland in the background and we also saw the home of the All Blacks rugby team - Eden Stadium. We were parked right on the rim of the extinct crater which was now covered in grass. From the top we could see One Tree Hill (quoted in U2's song) off to the Southeast.

It was a great context to capture the essence of the area before getting dropped off at the hotel.

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