Here's the view out of our room at our first backpackers. (The New Zealand word for "hostel" is "backpackers," the first of many seemingly unnecessary pluralizations that we would encounter.) Of note is the general degree of wetness that has accumulated on this window, setting another precedent for the trip.

Kiwis are nuts for Asian foods, and this steep block of Queen St. in Auckland seems to have a representative from every Asian country.  It's tough to see how steep it is, but if you look at the staggered levels of the shop fronts you can see that, indeed, this block is very steep! (Also, look at how much that dude is sweating walking up the street!)

An irresistible (yet poignant!) juxtaposition of old and new.  Read into it what you will...

New Zealand euphemism.  (Everything's better in New Zealand!)

So... Auckland (the self-proclaimed "City of Sails") constantly reminds visiting Americans of its multiple America's Cup victories by putting boats and stuff all over the city.  Here, Andre appears overwhelmed next to the gigantic keel (21 ft. draft!!) of NZ1, the first Kiwi (unsuccessful) challenger for the cup.  We had the last laugh, however, as New Zealand failed to recapture the cup from Switzerland while we were there (I don't think Switzerland even has any oceans!).

Three levels of people as Andre snaps a shot of a person jumping off of the Sky Tower while a plane flies overhead.

Apparently, the Lord of the Rings trilogy was filmed in New Zealand...  We had no idea...

Despite their bizarre Tolkienesque pizza menu, this place made some pretty tasty kebab sandwiches. (For some reason they pronounce the "bab" part of "kebab" like the sound a sheep makes.  Maybe because Andre's sandwich, in the foreground, is filled with tasty sheep meat.)

Sarah is not sure what a "Smasha Smurf" is, but she was soon to find out.

Backlit houses on our epic march to Ponsonby St. in hopes of finding delicious food.  Despite the growing darkness, however, no restaurants were open yet and we went hungry until we found a little Hare Krishna restaurant with cheap eats.

Noisy the Seagull.

Alright, I have to get this off my chest.  If I never see another fucking rainbow in my life it'll be too soon.  New Zealand is just infested with them.  Here's a double one over Auckland.  Yuck.

Auckland, despite being a nice, clean city, was kind of a drag (it just wasn't very different from any other world city).  The best part of our time there was taking a little ferry out to a volcano in the harbor: Rangitoto Island.  Andre was delighted by the unique vegetation!

As you can see, Rangitoto Island was far from immune from the persistent precipitation that plagues New Zealand.  Fortunately (despite the many warnings of his stinky-footed father), Andre was well equipped with waterproof boots.  Sarah's boots were waterproof-ish too, at least for this part of the trip. (Not pictured: Andre's hip kilt fashioned from a plastic garbage bag and Sarah's accompanying shame.)

Cool tunnel made by the lava flows on Rangitoto Island...

...and looking up through a hole in said tunnel.

Triple-treed view looking South from the summit of the volcano.

We got back to the ferry dock early, so we decided to explore this coastal walkway.  Here, Sarah chooses not to wait as Andre dilly-dallies with his camera.

Andre was here too.  But he didn't bring a Sharpie with him.

Field of lava rocks with Auckland ("Auck! Auck!") in the background.

Aesthetically pleasing path amongst said lava rocks.

Straying from the path, we found a neat little lagoon, where the sky was this weird blue color (a dramatic departure from the grey to which we had quickly grown accustomed).  We thought that it might be flooded since the trees were partially submerged, but an informative plaque informed us that these "crazy" mangrove trees actually grow out of the mud and rocks underwater.  Now, I've seen it all!

These fantail birds come right up to you and do their weird tail dance.  It's mildly lewd, but minimally offensive.