Auckland — 3 February 2001

Heading West. After a light breakfast at the BakeHouse on Queen Street, it is back to the bus terminal to purchase day passes.

The bus system is rather advanced compared to Pittsburgh. First, you enter in the front and exit in the back calling cheerfully, "Thanks Driver!" When you get on, you tell the driver what kind of fare you'd like, or where you're trying to go, and give them the money. They press some buttons, and out shots a little piece of paper and your change. All the buses we saw had racks in the front for baby strollers and bikes.

We arrived at the Auckland Zoo without incident. It is not the largest zoo, but the layout and presentation is wonderful. Again, the keywords are education and conservation.

We tried to spot the two orphaned Aussie fruit bats the zoo had recently taken in, but they must have been sleeping. We did, however, manage to spot some of the elusive animals, such as red pandas and tree kangaroos.

The kiwi bird at the zoo would be the only one we would see during our trip. (I have to admit that I spent a lot of time looking out for both kiwis and wekas during our trip.) A young Sandhill Crane (we had to go to NZ to see a bird that is common along the North Platt River in Nebraska!) took an interest in us until he figured out that we didn't have any food. At our next bird stop, we were greeted by a Sulfur Crested Cockatoo with a British accent. He called out, "Ello, Darlin," multiple times.

In the evening, we headed by bus back out of the city (this time heading south) to One Tree Hill (Maungakiekie -- "mountain of the kiekie plant"; 183m) with its encircling Cornwall Park. The driver let us off near the entrance to the park and we walked the short distance to a shopping district. At the recommendation of the manager of the Wine Masters in Royal Oak, we picked up a bottle of Mission Estate, Hawkes Bay Reserve, Cabernet Franc 1998. (Copied from the label). We told him we were going to picnic at One Tree Hill and asked for a recommendation for a good take out. He not only gave us a recommendation, but corked the bottle and gave us four plastic cups (two in the event of an accident).

A quick stop in Al & Pete's for take out (spicy lamb burgers with sweet fruit chutney and chips) and we were on our way back to Cornwall Park.

The base of the park was what I expected: lots of grass, trees, flowers, some picnic benches, playground equipment, etc. The rest of the park is dominated by a large hill (with paddock tended by sheep and cows). Tired of walking, we settled on a patch of grass in the shade overlooking a scenic car park where we ate our burgers & chips. Then it was off to see some more the domain. As we left Olive Grove, traffic (ped & auto) was blocked by a cow munching on olive trees.

I think it was during our dinner overlooking the car park that I decided that I could very easily live in this country.