Wednesday, August 10, 2011

An Awesomely Average Day

My new life as a Kiwi! (That's what they call people from New Zealand)
The house we're staying in
It's great!
Beach right down the street
Oh yeah.
You can see Rangitoto!

Slacklining while staring at the ocean: my new favourite hobby.


Watching rugby practice at night. Kiwi's are way into it.

Auckland Art Show


We went to a contemporary art show in a building in the Auckland Harbor. We just walk or bike to the Devonport Ferry Terminal and pay about $5 each way, and from the Auckland Ferry Terminal you can walk or bus or train to lots of cool places. The harbor is just a 10 minute walk from the terminal. The art show was in a building along the harbor.





Natalie, I thought of you when I saw these!


Aren't they cool?


This one reminded me of Joy.


Look closer, and you see magnifications of animal figurines!



These were sculpted out of marble.




Yeah, and F you too garden gnomes! Teehee



Funny sign



Then we went to the fish market and ordered the fish of the day: a school shark. It was delicious.


Rangitoto


We went on a day trip to a dormant volcano, the island of Rangitoto. It reminded me of Santa Cruz Island in that there are no cars allowed, just walking! We rode our bikes to the Devonport Ferry Terminal, about a 10 minute ride, and caught the 9:25 ferry to Rangitoto.


Hikin' alongside lava rocks


A change of scenery


Pretty light in the morning


Local birds


At the top of the volcano!


Inside the lava caves!


Conquered.



View from the top of the volcano, about a 2 hour trek. You can see Devonport in the foreground. The grassy hill on the very left is North Head, another volcano (all these islands are volcanoes!) which you can hike up from our backyard. You can see Auckland and the sky tower behind Devonport.


View of Auckalnd from inside a war bunker. These small concrete rooms are everywhere.



View of the Rangitoto Lighthouse with the city of Takapuna behind it. We ride our bikes to the farmers market in Takapuna on Sundays. And its a really fun word to say! Try it a few times. Takapuna. Takapuna. Takapuna.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Explorin' Auckland


Mount Eden, Auckland. See the Sky Tower in the background?






Tourists being bombarded by pidgeons

Mount Eden crater! New Zealand is a volcano!



Auckland Gardens











New Zealand



Rosalind (James' mom) feeding a horse before we went caving! We saw glow worms!



Tidepooling near Waipu



James and Louie

Louie stuck in a hula hoop in the backyard of a Devonport house. Check out the view.