Hello from New Zealand.

Patty and I are heading off to Tonga on an afternoon flight.

I'm very excited to meet Aaron and Lauren and begin our sailing adventure.

Day one in Aukland was spent getting from the airport to our hotel and then sleeping and resting.

Yesterday we took a local bus into downtown Aukland and then hopped on a tour bus to get acquainted with the downtown area and see a bunch of stuff rather quickly.

We hopped off the bus in a shopping/dining community called Parnell. Neither of us are particularly interested in shopping and, even if we were, we cannot take any more stuff with us. Our bags are very full.

So, we discussed the things that we have in common and we both really like light lunches with a glass of white wine, so we sat in a little bar and grille called Iguacu and had lunch and a glass of wine.

A little later, we hopped back on the bus and headed to Sky Tower which is the tallest tower in the Southern Hemisphere. Taller than the Eifel Tower and the Sydney Tower in Australia and the Donaturn Tower in Vienna, Austria.

The Sky Tower also has a casino on the main floor where I spent 2 NZ dollars and got nothing in return, so quit while I was behind.

The opportunity exists (for an outrageous sum of money) to walk on the outside of the tower while suspended by guy wires. Or, for the more adventurous group, you can base jump to a spot nearly 1000 feet below. Neither of us were inclined to base jump but considered the skywalk. Unfortunately, we both decided against it and this morning we are wondering "why not?". But alas, I guess it will have to wait until our next visit, where I will surely walk along the outside rim of the building and perhaps even do a little chick dancing.

After we left the Sky Tower we headed down to the Ferry Building on the waterfront in downtown Aukland and wandered around in the building and eventually made our way to the Harbourside Seafood Bar & Grill where we watched the sailboats and the cruise ships and the ferrys meander around in the harbor. We both enjoyed another glass of wine and enjoyed the sunshine and peacefullness of the harbor.

There is much to do in Aukland but the rest of it will have to wait for another day and time.

We are flying on Air New Zealand flight 866 at 4 pm New Zealand time. We arrive in Tongatapu at 6:50 pm. We're spending the night at the International Dateline Hotel and then meeting up with Wayward Wind in the morning.

All is well. I hope everyone in my listening audience is doing well. We are happy and safe.