First day in Aukland

On February 16, 2010 Jill and I flew from Denver to LA on United, then took Qantas from LA to Aukland. We left the house at about 12:00 pm, arrived at the hotel around 12:00pm on February 18. A long trip indeed. In Aukland we rented a car and drove to the north shore of Aukland. After the travel from Denver to Aukland, it took a little bit of concentration to drive a manual transmission car on the other side of the road and navigate to the hotel. Luckily Jill did a great job navigating while I concentrated on not getting in a wreck, we were able to get to the hotel without a problem.

The hotel, Spencer on Byron was located in an area called Takapuna, a wonderful little area near the beach. They gave us a room way up on the tower. We checked in the hotel early in the afternoon and spent the rest of the day exploring Takapuna and trying to stay awake. We explored the beach area and had some wonderful Thai food.

This is Takapuna beach, looking at Rangitoto Island. The island is designated as Native Forest.

Another view of Takapuna beach looking south East towards North Head.

A link to a map of the area.

The area is volcanic, with the beach an old fossilized forest. Here is the explanation:

And here are some pictures of the fossilized forest. It may not look like much but you really can see the trees in the rocks.

Another view of Takapuna Beach:

The hotel room had terrific views, these were taken in the morning

Morning from the hotel room looking left from the balcony, the body of water is lake Pupuke

Morning from the hotel room, looking straight out at Rangitoto Island,

And finally looking right from the hotel room, looking right towards downtown Aukland: