New Zealand-Days 14 & 15

Our last full day in New Zealand and we headed for the outdoor market.  We had a great time sampling the different foods despite the crazy rain and wind that we started out with this morning.

We had some lunch and closed out the market.

                                      

We then headed to Mount Eden,the highest volcano in Auckland city. We enjoyed spectacular 360-degree views of Auckland and its harbours from the summit.

We walked around the large, well-preserved crater, some 50m (164ft) deep, contained within the summit cone.                     

                                       

A magpie with his catch of the day

View from the other side of the crater.

From here, we headed to the airport to drop the Suvedi family and mom off and say our goodbyes.   We then went to One Tree Hill, a dormant volcanic cone and once the site of the largest prehistoric Maori settlement in the region. It was named after the solitary tree which was planted on its summit in 1640. Since then, a succession of single trees have stood on the summit.  This place was very cool!  Aside from the large monument on top of the hill, sheep roamed freely on the property and they had a great playground and flying fox for the kids!

                                      

                                     

                                      

                                        

                                      

                                      

                                      

We ended our last night of vacation with dinner back down by the waterfront and a drive around the Sky Tower.       

               

                                      

                                      

We had such a great time on vacation, but were also looking forward to coming home.  We got to bed early and were back up at 3am in order to get to the airport for our VERY early flight.  We were pleasantly surprised to have movies to watch and a meal served on our short 3 hour flight!

                            

We made it home with some VERY exhausted kids.  Now this is a sign of a great vacation!