Today we spent the day exploring the city of Auckland.  We began by walking back down the Prince’s Wharf area for breakfast.

Walking along the waterfront a little further.  These buildings along the wharf, which look like cruise ships, house restaurants and retail shops on the ground floor, a lot of office space, and the Hilton hotel at the far end.

We then purchased tickets to the Explorer bus, which is a tourist bus that circles around the city, allowing you to hop on and off at various popular places throughout the day.

Views from Mt. Eden, the highest point in Auckland.

Tomorrow we pick up our rental car and head south…

Shortly after 9 AM local time, we arrived in Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand.  With over 1 million people, Auckland has nearly one third of the population of the country.

Below are a few photos from the plane as we approached our destination.

After claiming our bags and clearing customs, we took a shuttle to our hotel in downtown Auckland.

The photo below was taken on the way to the hotel, and is for Tsiry, Nadine’s brother-in-law.

Although we arrived at the hotel a full five hours prior to check-in time, our room was ready for us.  We were given a lovely room on the 18th floor with a view of Auckland harbour.  Below are a few photos from the room.

After getting settled in the room, it was time to go out exploring in search of some lunch.  Below are some photos of our walk around the Auckland harbour area, which is just packed with choices of cafes along the waterfront.

Did I mention Auckland is known as the City of Sails?

By this point, the jetlag was catching up with Nadine, so we went back to the hotel for a rest.