Kia Ora

We have officially arrived in New Zealand after a rather long flight and an even longer customs line. Had a quick planning session to nail down our north island itinerary and kicked it off today with Auckland. After continuing our delicious food journey for brunch, we headed to Mount Eden. It is the highest volcanic peak in Auckland (dormant don't worry) and has a massive 50m crater. It is considered sacred by the Maori, but it has a boardwalk you can take to walk all around the crater and take in 360 views of the city.

We headed into the visitor center to learn a little more about this natural wonder then headed into the main city. We wandered around a bit to see the harbor, the sky tower (similar to Seattle's Space Needle), and Wynward Quarter. The city was nice- felt fairly small in a good way.

We wanted to see another mountain similar to Mount Eden so we decided to head to One Tree Hill (not like the show, sorry Macy) We hiked up to more 360 views and a monument for the Maori people.

Headed home in rush hour traffic to our Airbnb. Nice chilly first full day in New Zealand!