We arrived in Auckland in the early morning and took the SkyBus to our hotel in the CBD. After a quick change of clothes and rinse at the hotel, where we left our bags in store because it was too early to check in, we had a coffee next door then wandered to the Sky Tower. Having asked for recommendations at the i-site we purchased a 48 hour pass for the Soaring Kiwi bus tour. This included a trip up Sky Tower, which is what we did first.

Next, we couldn’t be bother to wait for the Soaring Kiwi bus to take us to the quay, so we walked there, negotiating major road works, and caught a ferry to Devonport, where we climbed a small volcano called Mt Victoria. Afterwards we stopped for lunch at Correli’s cafe.

On our return to Auckland CBD we took the red Soaring Kiwi bus ( Central loop ) all the way back to the Sky Tower, then checked in to our hotel.

In the evening we wandered out to Viaduct Harbour where we had drinks and food at O’Hagans. Susan’s steak sandwich was fairly inedible. She complained and got money off.

We were very tired when we got back to the hotel.