We spent most of today on Auckland Scenic Tours’ Full Day Auckland Tour; Mike was our guide and driver, and he was great. He’s lived in Auckland all his life and knows the city well and did a fantastic job of making us feel some of the changes that have happened over the last 50 years.

We started with a drive along the coastline, passing the Ports of Auckland and crossing Hobson Bay to Orakei, where we left the coast to enjoy seeing the homes of the rich and sometimes famous on Paratai Drive (multi-million dollar homes with stunning views). This pink house is owned by one of Auckland’s Desparate Housewives.

We stopped at Achilles Point (named for the ship which defeated the Graf Spee in 1939). There were a couple of Maori pouwhenua (much like totem poles) there, and Mike took photos of us doing something vaguely like a haka at the pole.

I hope our posing wasn’t too disrespectful to the Maori ancestors being honored by the poles.

Our next stop was the Auckland Domain, where we took a short walk to the Winter Garden to explore the Fernery and the Temperate House.

Mike showed us how ferns develop koru (fiddleheads) to add fronds.

The Silver Fern is endemic to New Zealand and is one of the country’s symbols.

The Temperate House was loaded with flowers. I could fill an entire post with them, but I’ll restrain myself.

Our next stop was Mt. Eden (Maungawhau), one of the earliest Maori settlements. We saw ancient Maori food storage pits and had great views of Auckland.

We did a wine tasting at Soljans, one of the oldest wineries in Auckland; I especially liked their port, and was happy that they’d ship it to the US at a decent price.

We had a delicious lunch at the Riverhead Tavern (snapper risotto).

We drove past the house Kim Dotcom rented while he was running Megaupload (before he was arrested on fraud and computer crime charges). Mike said it was supposed to be worth 50 million New Zealand Dollars (about $30M US).

We stopped at North Head to enjoy the views, watch sailors in action, and explore the Disappearing Gun.

Our final stop wasn’t on the official itinerary; Mike took us to the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.

The club has won many trophies over its 150 years.

But the highlight was the America’s Cup, which they’ll be defending later this year.

This evening, we walked over to the Wynyard Quarter; we had a great dinner at Baduzzi.

On the walk back, we enjoyed seeing the Sky Tower lit in red, probably for the Lunar New Year.

The Tepid Baths had been one of the stops on yesterday’s scavenger hunt, and we passed by it on our way back to the hotel. This time, I was able to get a photo!

Tomorrow promises to be another full day.

The flight from SFO to Auckland was uneventful, Immigration was quick, our suitcase came off the conveyor just as we got to baggage claim, and our driver had already texted us to say he was at the airport.

There was just one small hitch…unlike our friends Wendy and David, we didn’t get “Express Lane” stickers for the biosecurity line, so while they headed directly to Arrivals, we were diverted to the line for the inspection area.

It was a long line. And after we got to the front of the line, a mere 50 minutes later, we were interviewed by two different biosecurity agents before putting our bags into the X-ray machine and finally being allowed all the way into the country.

Our driver was still waiting and took us directly to the JW Marriott in the Central Business District, arriving about 8am. We’d checked in online; our friends hadn’t. But they were quickly given the keys to a nice room on the 6th floor; the agent told us that we’d been upgraded to the top floor because I’m Titanium Elite and that our room would be ready “later”.

We dropped our luggage in Wendy and David’s room and all four of us set out to explore Auckland, starting with a walk to the harbour, which gave Diane and me a chance to make up for a lost opportunity on our Alaska cruise in 2010. We hadn’t ever taken a selfie with our ship, the Silver Shadow, but here it was just a few hundred meters away!

After that, we walked around the harbour area and enjoyed the buildings and the statuary (and we had gelato for second breakfast, since we’re so close to Hobbiton).

Our room still wasn’t ready when we returned from our wandering, so the four of us set out on the “Reasons to Love Auckland” scavenger hunt. We started the walk at Aotea Square, where Afrofest, part of this year’s Summer in the Square series, was just getting started.

The walk took us by the Sky Tower, the Civic Theatre, Town Hall, the Tepid Baths, Shakespeare Brewery and Hotel, and more. It’s untimed, so we stopped for lunch along the way, too.

The walk was fun and a good way to get a quick overview of the downtown area. And I got notified that our room was ready just as we finished, so we returned to the hotel and moved our luggage to our room. The view is nice, but I’m not sure it was worth the wait.

My Titanium status did provide one definite benefit, though – free drinks in the hotel bar during Happy Hour, which we enjoyed before going back to the food court at Commercial Bay for a light dinner.

There was a street acrobat performing in the square across from Commercial Bay; we stopped to enjoy his act, which mixed comedy and handstands.

I was happy to toss a few bucks into his hat after his show; it was a nice end to the evening.