NZ, Part 2 - Auckland

People had told us not to spend too much time in Auckland, because the good stuff was further south. But we gave the city one day, and we were glad we did.

The bus was our transport this day. And our two destinations: Rainbows End amusement park and One Tree Hill.

The kids LOVED Rainbows End. We were in amusement park heaven. We'd heard from some locals that it was a little run-down, but those snobs have obviously never been to American Samoa where the only safe playground is at McDonalds. (Do you think I'm exaggerating? I'm really not.) In fact one of our favorite things about New Zealand was the plethora of playgrounds, "heaps" of playgrounds. You're almost guaranteed to be within 10 minutes of a great playground where ever you go. (Now I may be exaggerating a little.)

(Notice, we bought a new stroller.)

The kids ran the show and did whatever they were "keen" to try. We stayed in the kiddie part. Only paid for the kiddie part. Brought our own lunch. (Subway never tasted so good.) There were no lines since it was a school day for everyone else. And it was clean! Rubbish made it to the rubbish bins! Loved: the mini-toilets and mini-sinks for our mini-guys. (It sounds silly how excited we were about everything, and maybe you'd only understand if you knew American Samoa.)

When we had our fill of thrills, we boarded the bus again and found our way to One Tree Hill. First we got "take-away" doner kebab. (Oh, yum. Next time you pass your local kebab place, say a little prayer of thanks that you even have the option of eating there, k?) Ephraim walked to the top passing heaps of sheeps.

Clever bench for climbing over the fence.

We played at an awesome playground, with zip-line.


On the way home we stopped at Pak'n'Save--a real supermarket. Loved the fresh fruit (except the papayas were pathetic). Then we bussed back to the hotel.