Saturday, February 8th
We landed at the Auckland airport around 9:00 AM but we waited about 10 minutes to get to our gate because we were early. We went through customs, got our luggage and put it through the X-ray machines. Our driver met us outside the baggage claim. He took us to our hotel. It all went smoothly!
Our hotel, the Grand Mercure, was in a great location. Our room wasn’t ready yet but we checked our luggage and started our own exploration of Auckland. We headed up Queens Rd. and turned left onto Wellesley and stopped at Albert Park. We strolled up and down the hills of the park and enjoyed the warm, sunny weather and beautiful flowers!
On our way back to the hotel we stopped at a small market and got some water to have in our room. When we got back to our hotel we found out our room was ready!!! Yea! We took showers which helped to revive our senses and it was wonderful to be in fresh clothes.
We left our hotel again and walked along the water as close as we could get because of construction. Three big cruise ships were in port, Princess, Viking, and Azamara. 
Princes Wharf was an area that we walked around and then decided to have a glass of New Zealand wine at a bar called Sardine. It was located along the water.
After enjoying the harbour we walked back to the hotel to get ready for a group happy hour and dinner at our hotel. Our group consists of 22 as well as our site leader, Len and our group leader Robbie. It was a wonderful evening but we were happy to get to our room and get a good night’s sleep!
Amazing adventure