Auckland Day 1

If I couldn’t live in the United States, New Zealand is where I would live.  The kiwis are friendly and they treat Americans well.  Auckland is based around two large harbors, and is the major city on the north island. Auckland is known as the “City Of Sails.”  Auckland has more boats per capita than any other city in the world. Driving over and around the large harbors, you will see hundreds of sailboats. It has a population of about 1.65 million.  The city is built on one of the world's youngest volcanic fields; Auckland is dotted with over 50 volcanoes. The weather is subtropical, which has a rather moderate climate throughout the year.  These images are not mine. 

Today was the day that I took some of my knitters shopping. There is a shop that I have been to several times and unfortunately she moved out of the downtown area so we took an Uber to her new location. As we were leaving, the owner was extremely happy and said we made her month and today is only the second day of the month. My knitters did me proud.  I also helped out a little bit!  The two smaller balls are possum/cashmere and the two larger ones are possum/merino.  The possums in New Zealand are different than the possums in the United States.

Opossum	Possum
Opossums are found in many different regions across the North American continent, including parts of the USA and Canada.	Possums can be found in places like Australia and New Zealand.
Opossums are usually about three feet long and weigh approximately 9 to 10 pounds.	Possums are a little bit smaller than opossums, clocking in at about 6 to 7 pounds on average.
It is very common for opossums to play dead when experiencing a significant level of fear.	It’s less common for possums to play dead, mainly because they don’t experience the same level of fear as opossums.
Opossums have very little fur on their tails and can sometimes even have completely bare tails.	Possums usually have furry tails, a major contrast when compared to an opossum.

Michael did not have any excursions today so he went walking around town and wound up walking over 5 miles. He wore himself out but had enough energy to walk another 1.3 miles to dinner and back. 

The food on Viking is good, but sometimes you need to check out the local scene.  We were a group of six — Dennis and Cheryl and Kathleen and Tom plus us. It was very windy so we wore our cruise jackets for the first time during this cruise. On a suggestion, we went to Soul Bar and Bistro and had a fabulous meal. Most of us had rack of lamb. However, the winos raved about the wine and couldn’t believe the price—very low markup!  Everyone was happy.