Had a great day today, slept in a bit then headed out for some food. Finally found a bakery with some delicious meat pies and split three of em. Steak n Mushrooms, Steak n Mashed Potatoes, and Eggs Ham n Cheese.

To work off all the food we took a good walk uphill to Albert Park to check out the sculptures and fountains.

Enough of the nature, it was time for some history! We headed to the Auckland War Memorial Museum, but don’t let the name fool ya, it was mostly a really neat Natural History & Polynesian History museum with the top floor dedicated to the war history.

Post museum we took another long walk to check out the surrounding area, as the museum is in the middle of a large park built in and around an old volcano crater, Auckland Domain, with a lot of other things to see and trails to walk.

As we had enough of the hiking, we found a “tiki bar” to have a drink n snacks. It wasn’t as near as good as home, but the margarita helped our tired feet feel better.

When I mentioned things are all closed here, it’s not just from the pandemic. Apparently a lot of places just close during the holidays, and this was obviously clear today. We happened upon a NZ Post-office satellite branch closed for holidays until next year! At this point we’re just laughing about the absurdity.

After a long day it’s time for bed. Tomorrow we check out of Auckland hotel, pick up our rental truck, and hit the road. We’re heading a couple hours south tomorrow to go Hobbit hunting, so stay tuned for updates! Before I snooze away, tonight’s wacky snack was “Grilled Burgers flavor Pringles”