Day 124: Choose Your Own Adventure - Explore Auckland

This afternoon Mat, Kat, Antz and I went on a flatmates adventure.  We decided to go and explore Auckland.  We didn't really have a destination in mind, we just ventured off to see where we'd end up.  First we went to Botany Downs, and had lunch at a fast foodish chicken place called Oporto.  It is an Australian chain.  Then I asked if we could hike up Mt. Wellington, which is one of the volcanoes ranging around Auckland.  The answer was, "no," because no one else wanted to (and honestly, neither did I when I saw how steep it was) so instead we just drove up.  At the top were a bunch of cows, some kids sliding down the hill on a piece of cardboard, and some picnicers.  There was a nice view of Auckland from the top, and of some nearby crags that are going to be open for rock climbing soon, I hear.

From Mt. Wellington we headed off to Mission Bay, which had a festival atmosphere since it was a Saturday and nice weather and there were lots of people around.  Matt and Antz were excited because there was a Ferrari cruising the streets there.  We got Moven Pick ice cream and took it to the beach where Matt made friends with some birds and fed them ice cream while Kat tried her hardest to avoid them.  From Mission Bay we drove around into downtown with a sidetrip to visit one of the most expensive streets in Auckland, Paritai Drive.  You can see the fancy houses behind expensive gates and high walls or gardens.  Pretty cool.  From Paritai we went west, checking out the location of the zoo and the transport museum while wandering our way over to west Auckland and then south until we hit the southwestern motorway on which we returned home.