2nd Day in Auckland

The Auckland metro area is the largest and most populous urban area in New Zealand, with 32 percent of the population residing there.  The isthmus was settled by Maori around 1350 and in Maori, Auckland's name is Tamaki Makaurau.

Auckland is home to many cultures. The majority of inhabitants claim European, primarily British, descent, but substantial Maori, Pacific Islander and Asian communities exist as well. Auckland has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world and a higher proportion of people of Asian origin than the rest of New Zealand.

 Going all-out for Christmas!

  Entrance to a park

Whimsical street art

We're tough Unalaskans--what's a little rain??

 Lovely gardens in the park

 These tree branches were so huge that they had to have supports to  hold them up.

Love running across peace places!

And yet another coffee shop stop

These women were on their way to a walk or run--they all had numbers on their shirts.  Four of them were wearing green wigs--wish I knew what the significance was!

The Botswana Butchery restaurant

Auckland is popularly known as the "City of Sails" because the harbor is often dotted with hundreds of yachts and has more per capita than any other city in the world, with around 135,000 yachts and launches.  Around 60,500 of the country's 149,900 registered yachtsmen come from the Auckland Region and about one in three Auckland households owns a boat.

Bye, bye, Auckland!