The hotel internet was very poor, so I am just now posting about my trip yesterday.  I won't attempt to spell anything right since the words foe the cities, trees, birds etc. are in Maori dialect and I don't have my notes.  Yeasrerday morning I went out for a brief walk and to get some pictures of downtown.  It was cool and drizzly so I was concerned for our tour of a local park, but caught the van at 12:30.  We had an interesring mix of folks from Malaysia, Belgium, Denmark and the US me and a couple from Colorado).

As we headed out of the city I had a better understanding of why Auckland is one of the top 4 places to live.  There are over 20 parks in the city including the 45,000 Acre Waitere park.  Many trees in Auckland proper are  "exotics" or not native.  The areawhere we went is 10 miles out and is densesubtropical rainforest.  It islocated in and around a volcanic crater, and the road twisred along the fringe of the cone.  Our guide was very knowledgable and included factoids about the natural area.  I spotted anIndian myna  bird acting pretty comfortable finding seeds along the sidewalk, andlater saw  a couple of birds in the rainforest.  We beard a cuckoo, a seasonal migrant that puts its eggs in the tiny nests of the grey warbler.  Poor foster mom loses her own chicks as they are displaced by the larger chicks.  The guide said the country is in the process of eradicatin wild pigs because they are suspected of contributing to some tree virus.  What do you want to bet that there will be some environmental Oops later?  I would think that the pigs at leasthelp to spread and fertilize the rainforest.

The tour wasreally nice and I did get good pictures to share later.  Today I meet my hostess friend and head to her home in Ingham dor 10 Days.  I am looking forward to a more normal life!