After a couple of days in Singapore (see Singapore 2007) we arrived on the other end of the world in Auckland. We rented a car at the airport and drove downtown to find a hotel. Auckland is a large modern city which is surrounded by a beautiful landscape. The first days we used to explore the city from the Auckland Tower to the harbor. At the harbor you can find some nice restaurants and bars. In Auckland we decided to go all the way up north to Cape Reigna first before exploring the area south.   

The only thing we had preplanned for this trip was the ferry crossing from Wellington to Nelson (North to South Island) which meant we had 2.5 weeks to visit the North Island. Of course I had forgotten the pre-printed tickets for the ferry at home. No smartphone at the time so luckily somebody at home could forward the tickets to the hotel.