Back in Auckland

Once we got back into Auckland, we had a few adventures to show Lisa in the city. The first one was the star dome, a beautiful show of the solar system followed by some star gazing. We got to see Venus and Saturn, including the rings, as well as the souther cross, the jewel box and a few other souther constellations. 

We also went out to rangitoto island for an afternoon walk around the trails and a beautiful, if wasp filled, picnic lunch. Having been stung recently (I stepped in a wasp while doing laundry, and was stung sitting out in the front deck), I opted to eat my lunch on the walk. I was not too keen on sitting around amongst the many wasps. The view was stunning, the geography graceful and overall it was an afternoon well spent. Lisa was into the caves and she took some awesome photographs. 

In addition to these adventures, Lisa and I spent some time at the zoo, went down to a little beach community to have lunch, ice cream and to sit watching the waves, we did a little bit of sight seeing and shopping along queen street, sampling more delicious food and took the time to get our nails done. We spent the last few days doing most of the "Auckland sights", but mostly just spending time together.

To finish off, a few photos of Lisa and I on the holiday, our first photos together since our last ugly Christmas sweater get together in December of 2013, just before I moved to New Zealand. I think Lisa will agree, it's a stunning country, and I was so happy to see her and have her visit for four weeks. My own little slice of Canada found amongst my bestest friend.