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Two weekends a year the artist lofts and studios at the Brewery complex are opened to the public. Brian, Megan and I checked it out and were blown away by the art we saw.

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We woke up early and took the first ferry to Rangitoto Island, the youngest volcano in Auckland. We hiked up the lava rock-strewn path to the summit of the old volcano and took in the view of the volcano crater Hauraki Bay. On the way back down I took a wrong turn and ended up coming down the volcano the long way. Ran most of the way once I realized what I’d done, because Mom and Dad were waiting for me at one of the way points to the summit. Met up with Dad (Mom had decided to go on up to the top) and then I did a side trip to some little lava caves. I didn’t explore too far though because I was by myself and there were a lot of sharp edges on which to break something. We had a leisurely hike down, and saw some very busy ants at work. We ended up having about 45 minutes to ourselves at the dock before the ferry came back, so we relaxed in the sun and enjoyed the fresh air.

We cleaned up and got takeaway from the little café across the street from our hotel, then visited the Wintergardens and Fernz Fernery at the Auckland Domain – a big park on the site of an old volcano (as are most of the parks there). We rested up a bit then had teppan-yaki at a place on the waterfront and got ice cream at a little place at Princes Wharf. Outside the ice cream place we ran into some people who were going to be boarding the same cruise ship the next day. Back to the hotel to do laundry, and watched ‘Band of Brothers’ on tv. Tomorrow the cruise begins! The week on our own went by really fast.

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most of these photos are best appreciated at original size so you can really see the blossoms up close. click ‘link’ and then on the flickr page click ‘all sizes’.

I drove up to Lake Balboa to see if the cherry blossoms were still blooming and was pleasantly surprised! Many beautiful shades of pink, and lots of busy bees flying around. The park itself is nice and peaceful. I even saw some people flying big elaborate kites. I made a mental note to come back in the summer for picnics.

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Renee, Brian and I decided to get out of LA for awhile and take a day trip to Joshua Tree. We met up at 6:30am and stopped at Chick-fil-A on the way. We spent hours walking around the nature trails and clambering over boulders. No incidents except when I hiked over some rocks and they couldn’t see me anymore and got worried. After the park, we ate in Palm Springs, then walked around downtown for awhile. Then we went to Ben & Jerry’s for free scoop day.

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Today was Waitangi Day, a New Zealand public holiday, but very contoversial. We drove from Wellington to Hawke’s Bay and had another fantastic lunch at Black Barn winery. I had gazpacho and it was exactly what I’d been wanting. A little dog wandered into the big outdoor patio and we found him later, napping in the sun in front of the little art gallery.

We drove on to Napier, found a pharmacy to fill my prescriptions, relaxed a bit and watched tv coverage of the Sevens. We walked down Marine Parade, saw the Sunken Gardens, and did the Art Deco Walking Tour. The tour was very interesting, with good architectural info and human interest stories to do with the great earthquake that leveled the city in 1931 (more here).

We had dinner at an Australian chain, Hog’s Breath Café, and filled up on ribs and steaks. We caught the Sevens Shield finals and watched the USA team win! Back at the hotel for the night, we watched ‘No Country for Old Men’.

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We drove to Picton and toured the ship ‘Edwin Fox’ and its museum. It was really interesting, and being able to walk around the ship itself really gave some perspective to ocean travel.

We got in the vehicle queue for the Cook Strait ferry and I took a nap. We were finally able to drive aboard the huge cargo/passenger boat and enjoyed a picturesque cruise through the sounds. We ate aboard the ferry and had plenty of time to relax.

In Wellington, the NZI Sevens were on, so crazily-dressed rugby fans filled the streets on the way to the stadium. It made for great people-watching as we negotiated the downtown streets. We took the cable car up to the Wellington Botanical Gardens and walked around the observatory and Lady Norwood Rose Garden. We ate at the restaurant in the garden, then drove to the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary for our nighttime tour.

The tour was great and very educational – we saw tree wetas and tuataras and heard some little spotted kiwi, but didn’t catch a glimpse of them. Our guide was fantastic and had plenty of information about the animals and plants around us. We got to see some glowworms up close too! In the beams of our red-light flashlights we could even see the long sticky threads the glowworms – really larvae – use to ‘fish’ for insects.

When we got to the hotel the insect bites on my leg which had been bothering me since Milford Sound seemed a lot worse – hot to the touch, swollen and purple – so Mom took me to the after-hours clinic. Sure enough, my leg was ‘quite infected’ so I was prescribed a load of antibiotics, both oral and topical.