Good morning from Auckland!  I arrived yesterday in rain and cold, and went into culture shock immediately due to the bustle, noise and other big city issues.  The hotel is in the inner city a couple of blocks from restaurants and shopping.  I found a coffee shop and cafe which served an amazing version of eggs benedict on Turkish toast with spinach and sauteed mushroms.

One thing I,ll say for thetrip is that my tummy has been thrilled! So far I have had main meals of fish andchips, lambshanks, venison satakiand the eggs  enedict.  breakfasts have mostly been bread and fruit.  This would bea tough place to have a gluten allergy.

Today I have a tour of Waitekere rain forest and one of the black sand beaches.  The north islan is primarily volcanic in origin. Aukland occupies a narrow connection of land about halfway between Cape Reinga at the tip and Wellington at the southern tip of North Island. The volcano eruption a couple of weeks ago was about halfway beteen Auckland and Wellington.

Auckland reminds me of a cross between Charlotte and Asheville... It is the largest city in NZ but is hilly.  houses in the suburbs have hedged or walled gardens and the soil is rich.

I will closefornow and will not post again until I get to theairport tomorrow am.  My flight leaves at 6:45am so I shoulld have time before my flight  to Australia.