Spent quite a lot of time trying to upload the blog picture but no luck as the ship was moving a lot and not a good satellite connection. Up at 7 am. Our ship was already at the dock and we were no longer moving. The aft of the ship, where our cabin resides, was closest to the downtown buildings. We did not hear the ship tie up or anything. Slept a bit longer. Went to the Lido deck 7:30 for breakfast. As we walked along the 9th deck, we could see a row of condos. They were glass faced and we could see into their homes. Each of us had omelets, potatoes and a muffin. I also tried some peaches and pineapple but both were hard and green. Went back to the cabin and got ready to head to shore in Auckland. Mark was able to upload the picture for yesterday's blog. The ship was parked next to a ferry terminal which was alongside the edge of the downtown. They were in the process of building a couple of tall office high rises, so there was lots of construction noise and some of the street was roped off. In getting off the ship, there was only one gang way on the 3rd floor. It led to a large, pretty empty building. We had to walk the length of the ship. So, lots of walking just to get out to the street. Mark did some researching for beaches in the area. He selected Half Moon Bay. We took the 9:15 ferry ride which took more than half an hour and only cost $10. There was a huge marina next to the ferry dock. We walked around the marina and talked to one of the locals. He gave us directions on getting to a boardwalk where we could cut thru a residential area to the beach on the other shore. We followed the directions and made it to Buckland Beach. It was a beautiful spot. The sand was a light tan color. Not many people on the beach. We could see islands in the distance. We walked up from the beach attempting to catch a bus, but none were going in the direction back to the marina. Mark selected a different direction back using Google Maps. It about killed me to walk up the hill. It seemed like everything hurt. Finally got to the top of the hill and then worked our back thru the marina. There were several cafes and marine stores along our walk. Headed back to the ferry terminal a few minutes before the ferry arrived. Headed back to downtown Auckland. Walked a few of the streets just beyond the waterfront. Lots of high end designer stores. Then decided to head back to the ship as we could see that the Superbowl game had started. It was a lengthy walk to get back to the ship. One the waterfront there was a bar and we could see that NE was up 3-0. Got back to the ship and was able to get lunch on the Lido deck. I had some chicken with rice noodles and veggies. That was one of my best meals so far. Mark had a grilled ham and cheese sandwich, but the grill only toasted one side of his bread. Then we headed to the casino, which we knew would have been closed while in port. They told us that the game would be playing but all we found were several soccer games. We talked to the purser but he told us that they didn't get the channel for the Superbowl. I told them I would be giving them a poor grade for that. We could have gotten off the ship, but Mark said that since we had internet, we could look up the scores. So, we put on our swim suits and headed to the Serenity area at the back of the 9th deck and found an empty cabana. We ventured over to the pool which was very tiny and already had several people in it. The sun was hot today with highs of mid 70's. When it beat on the walk way, it was hot enough to burn my feet. We decided to get in the hot tub which only had one person in it. Had a lovely conversation with one of our fellow passengers. The hot tub was in the direct sun, so we didn't stay long. Lounged in our cabana and Mark kept getting the score updates. It would also tell us which team had the ball, the yard line and the distance to the next 1st down. We were happy to read the final score of 13-3 for the New England Patriots. Headed back to the cabin. Showered and got ready for dinner. Headed down to the 2nd floor to join Graham, Pamela, Ross & Beth for another great dinner. Thank you to Ross & Beth who shared a bottle of red wine with the table. Dinner was spring rolls and chicken with veggies for me. Mark had wild boar and corn bread, plus chicken with fries. We both had key lime pie for dessert. Headed back to the room after dinner. Had a lovely conversation with our room steward, Sunny! Went to the 7:30 show which we were late for. Got there and the Pharaoh's Palace was not very full for tonight's singer. There were a bunch of kids making noise. So, after one song, we gave up and left. We went to the casino, but it wasn't open yet as we were still within sight of land and needed to be offshore before they could start. We went up to the Lido deck and the movie, Rampage, playing. We had seen some of the movie earlier in the day. Mark got us some popcorn and blankets as it was cold outside on the lounge chairs. What fun. Then headed down to the casino. Played some roulette. Between us, we ended up ahead so we cashed out and headed back to the cabin. Thanks for the emails and messages. We tried to make some calls, but our connection was not the best from Half Moon Bay. We cannot make calls with our ship wifi. Tomorrow we will be in Bay of Islands. We will be up at the crack of dawn as we have book the Bay of Island Hole in the Rock Cruise that leaves at 7 am! We plan to get to bed shortly.