In Auckland!

Hello all! Today started at 4:00AM, which is when we woke up to get ready to leave Glenferrie Lodge. We had only realized the day before that our flight out of Sydney was at the unpleasant hour of 6:45am, so our hotel booked a taxi to come get us. At the front desk, we met another Glenferrie guest trying to get to the airport, so we split our taxi with him. He was a nice Australian man in town for a business conference, and was a sales rep for touristy goods. Our taxi driver saved us from being run into by a large truck with some quick maneuvering. I'm fairly convinced everyone drives crazy here...but still not as crazy as in Rome.

Here's a view out the window from our first flight, going from Sydney to Melbourne. It's smoke from some of the wildfires. So sad...

We then immediately got on a plane from Melbourne to Auckland. The flight was about 3-4 hours long, but I slept and there's a two hour time difference between Auckland and Sydney, so it was all very confusing about how long it actually was. At the airport, Cameron found a hotel shuttle bus that was cheaper than a taxi, and we eventually got to the hotel. Here's our room:

After dropping our bags off in our adorable (and eco-friendly!) room, we went wandering around the city.

That last photo shows a bunch of young people (who had been partying in a bar next to the Mexican restaurant we ate dinner at) starting some kind of Mardi Gras march. Many of the guys were wearing skin-tights spandex pants. It was amusing.

Cameron and I also found Lush! (This is the 3rd or 4th international Lush I've been to...terrible, lol.)

And gelato!

After that, we went to see He's Just Not That Into You to wind down the day. The movie was okay, but it really made us appreciate our boyfriends. :)

Now it's time for bed, as we're getting picked up at 10:00AM for a wine and cheese tasting tour! How sophisticated of us! ;)