Hank Slept Here

Somehow having lost Friday entirely in one of the great mysteries of the International Date Line, we landed in Auckland early Saturday morning ready to really start our vacation.  [As an aside, it is patently unfair that we had to suffer through two Mondays in exchange for losing a Friday.]  Customs was uneventful, but future travelers be forewarned about taking fresh fruit into the country.  They are very serious about preventing it, apparently to the point of imposing the death penalty on those who violate the prohibition (ok, it's a $400 fine, but whatever).  After a quick stop in the duty free shop to purchase our 3, yes 3, bottle allotment of alcohol each, we were on our way, comforted with the knowledge that we had enough provisions to last the 45 minute drive to the house.

David (and Olivia) was kind enough to pick us up at the airport and to demonstrate his method of staying awake by opening his eyes as wide as possible, much like one of the Wild Things (and he even has a son named Max):

Because the road from the airport to the house goes through Auckland, we decided to make a quick stop at One Tree Hill, or Maungakiekie for those of you who speak Maori.   One Tree Hill is just outside the city and has a commanding view of all 360 degrees.  Speaking of degrees, the weather was spectacular, especially coming from such bitter cold and so much snow.  There was the added bonus that more trees had grown since the hill got its name.

According to David, the obelisk at the top of the hill contains the grave of Sir John Logan Campbell (who among other things owned the land), and the statute is of a Maori warrior which was Campbell's idea to commemorate the Maori.  Whoa, that is waaaaay too much information.  Key takeaway:  it's a big hill with a big thingy on top and from which there are great views.

We got back in the car and headed to David's house.  There was great excitement about seeing David's house because Hank had slept there; it was just like visiting Mt. Vernon and other sites along the east coast and seeing where George Washington had slept.  We missed Tokyo, Hanoi, and a host of other now historical sites, but were finally able to visit a "Hank slept here" place.  The house:

David, Megan, Max, and Olivia's house is awesome.  It's in a great neighborhood, backs to a park that is on a cliff overlooking the water, is seconds from a great beach on the other side of the point, and most importantly is a block away from a great Indian restaurant.  What more can I say?  We met Megan's sister's family (also awesome), had a bite to eat, and headed for the beach.

View from (Kennedy) park on cliff:

Path from house to beach along cliff:

Max and Olivia's beach at low tide (bonus points for picking out Debbie and Megan walking):

Fisherman on cliff side of point:

Megan and Dave then cooked an incredible meal of lamb (I discovered I do like lamb) and green lipped mussels with spicy Thai sauce.  I had a religious experience and became a mussel man (not to be confused with muscle man because I eschewed physical activity for food the entire trip).  It is difficult to top a religious experience so I will end it here.  I will put more pictures on a Picasa site later this weekend (and add a link from here) in the off chance you want to see a few more pictures.