Day 11 in Auckland Rainforest and Beach Hike

We are getting to be pros at the complicated way we have to get into our unit.

It's working much easier today for us. We took our empty bags over to the Hilton hotel next door to borrow the stapler to attach our bag tags for the cruise. We ran into Cindy and Howard who invited us to breakfast with them once we put our bags away.

We had a chocolate croissant with them, then wandered around until it was time to meet our tour.

One couple is from Washington State, the other is from Michigan. We didn't realize the tour is 7 hours long. We are due back at 5pm. What a way to fill the day. Then we have time for dinner and a load of laundry and repacking.

We stopped at a bakery and were told to get something for now, something for later, and a sweet treat. I got a veggie croissant, a veggie pie, and a brownie. Paul got an apple turnover with cream, ham and cheese croissant, and steak and cheese pie. We went through a nature center.

One of the staff at the visitor's center had caught a big spider under a clear, glass bowl, to show us.

Then he released it. Then we did a cliff-top walk.

A tiny little lizard, maybe two inches long.

A spider nest.

Paul did not notice the group leaving and the guide had to go back and find him. Then he was mad saying it was my fault he didn't notice the group leaving. Or that I didn't give him a personal invitation to join the group in leaving. (Ed: I simply sent down the trail to the next informational sign to read. I was within sight and earshot of the group, but no one seemed to say anything about leaving, so when I went back, everyone was gone. I was not sure if they had gone forward around me, or if they had turned around to head back up the trail. So, yeah, I was a little upset NO ONE said anything when leaving, therefore, I did not know everyone had left!)

Our next stop was to look for eels. We found a bunch of long-finned eels.

Milton, our guide, attracted them with a sausage roll.

That was the coolest thing.

They are very docile. He was actually able to pet them.

Then on to a park for lunch. We took a walk through a rainforest.

A cool tree, the rata, starts out like a lacy vine wrapped around any tree,

then it becomes a monster tree and kills the tree it started on.

Then we went for a hike on the beach.

There is magnetic sand here. A little darker than normal sand. It is part silica sand and part iron particles. You can place a magnet into it, and only the iron particles will stick to the magnet. They collect it and make steel from it. The rocks on the beach look fuzzy from a distance. They are covered in tiny mussels.

We think they are periwinkles, but not really sure.

On the way back, we stopped at an overlook of the city.

Then we drove back to town and fell asleep in the van.

In the evening, we did laundry, packed, and Paul worked on his facemask. The toothpick repair lasted until now. This time he used epoxy. Nothing will break that bond. Paul discovered he liked the TV show 'Young Sheldon'. (Ed: not sure why, but while we watched 'Young Sheldon', it just hit me as pretty funny. Strange, I don't remember thinking that way about the show or it's progenitor, 'The Big Bang Theory')