Week 1 Wrap-Up

It's hard to believe this morning that we've already been here for a week. On one hand it seems like SO long ago that we left our friends and family (and dog) back home, but on the other...the first week has flown by! I'm sure this week will be no different...then Drew starts work and reality will probably set in :)

Anyway--to wrap up our first week here, we went up the the top of the Sky Tower, walked around Albert Park and took a harbour cruise to see some of the neighboring areas. All very touristy, but all very fun! Of course, Kevin went, too!

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1) Sky Tower
At 1,076 feet tall, the Sky Tower is the tallest man-made structure in the Southern Hemisphere. It has 2 different observation decks where you can see 360-degree views of Auckland and the surrounding areas. Also, if you're brave enough you can do the Sky Walk around that far outer rim waaaaay up in the air or you can base jump right off the top of the thing! We saw a few people doing the jump and it looked absolutely terrifying!

View of the Sky Tower standing at the base

Western view of Auckland...which also happens to be where our apartment is! 

Kevin atop the Sky Tower...trying not to look down!

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2) Albert Park

Albert Park is a beautiful space right in the center of downtown Auckland...think of it as Central Park in NYC but about 1/64 the size! The park sits atop a hill and, boy, were those sidewalks steep! Luckily there are lots of benches where you can rest once you make it to the top :) They have statues, old war cannons, and a gorgeous fountain...along with a lot of people practicing tai chi and karate! The best part about this park in my opinion were the incredible trees with their low-hanging branches that intertwined...so cool!

Kevin sitting on one of the old war cannons

The coolest looking trees ever!

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3) Harbour Cruise

Fuller's is a ferry company here that runs daily tours and shuttles to all of the different islands and neighboring areas that surround Auckland. We chose to the the Harbour Cruise first because it showed us the Harbour Bridge, Devenport (the city right across the water that is located on the North Shore), and dropped us off to explore Rangitoto which is a small volcanic island just off Auckland's coast. It was a great way to see all of these places...especially when we capped it off by seeing someone bungee jump of the bridge! Again...looked terrifying!

Kevin apparently doesn't get seasick like his parents do!

 Finally a decent picture of the two of us--thank goodness for friendly people willing to take pictures!

 Auckland skyline

Bungee jumping off the Harbour Bridge--Drew swears he can do this, but I'm not so sure ;)

I posted ALL the pictures from the past few days on Facebook, so if you have an account feel free to check them out! Otherwise, check back here soon for more updates on our apartment, our car and things we do this upcoming week!

Cheers!