Auckland, New Zealand

We had a wonderful day in Auckland, the City of Sails. The ship is docked right at the edge of the downtown, so it's very convenient. We took a bus tours of the city's highlights first, and then set out on our own. Although the forecast had been for showers, we really lucked out for the most part. I say most part because the one episode of precipitation was extreme: thunder and lightning along with the rain. We hardly ever get to experience storms like that! Luckily this was over quickly, and occured while we were on the bus. Unfortunately, we had driven to ther highest point in Auckland for a panoramic view, but we couldn't see very far. Later, though, we walked to the Sky Tower and saw for miles. One unique feature of this tower (similar to the Space Needle in Seattle) is that there are glass panels in the floor. It is really wierd standing on them and looking down. We were up there for the sunset -- perfect timing. We didn't have time to see everything we wanted to, and already know we want to come back!