We collected Sheila and Rosemary from Auckland airport on Wednesday early evening and brought them here to Mission Bay for dinner and an early night; relatively early that is, they were still operating on Sydney time. Since then we've all been having a fairly restful time, recovering from our travels and wandering about locally around Mission Bay and St Heliers. The weather is improving all the time, the southerly wind has dropped in strength and it is getting much warmer. In Sydney we experienced what the locals call a 'southerly buster', a wicked wind that dropped the temperature from 30-degrees to 18-degrees between lunch time and tea time. Down here, of course, southerly winds are bad news, they blow straight from the south pole (or that's what it feels like). Sheila and Rosemary have both been cooking, which has improved to quality of our eating beyond measure.

Today, Saturday 14th October, we all took the bus into Auckland centre and spent some time looking around the shops in Queen Street (the main drag). After that we went for lunch at a restaurant in the Sky Tower, the tallest structure in the southern hemisphere. From here, the views over the harbour are tremendous and the food was good, too. The launching pad for the Sky Jump is on the same level as the restaurant and we were able to watch several apprehensive candidates for this experience throw themselves off of the tower, with varying degrees of enthusiasm. The drop is something like 200-meters I think, and the descent is controlled by a fan, but the victims are held for a minute or so in front of a observation gallery on the floor below the launch pad, to dangle about while friends and family take pictures.

In the afternoon we took the ferry over to Devonport and rambled about the little streets doing nothing in particular, but fun for all that. Then back on the ferry and by bus to Mission Bay. This evening, Anne has been making booking on the Internet for our little tour of the central North Island, which will now begin on Monday.

The pictures show (1) a jumper about to take the plunge from the Sky Tower; (2) all of us on the boat to Devonport (I'm reflected in the window); and (3) at lunch in the Sky Tower restaurant.