I got a sunburn today. How's the snow?

Well day 2 in Auckland was an exciting one. We all woke up early because our brains are still on Kansas time which is 5 hours ahead. After showering, eating, and waiting on the girls (typical) we headed out to explore downtown Auckland. It had a bunch of shops and restaurants, some of which you see in the U.S. and some I've never heard of. Here's a picture of one of the main streets.

 We looked all around for some authentic New Zealand food for lunch, maybe some seafood, maybe some strange food. What did we find? A place called Mexicali that basically served Chipotle burritos. Yeah, real authentic New Zealand cuisine.

 That's the remnants of Chase's burrito. Outside the restaurant there was some sort of show being put on by some weird guy that worked up a crowd, then talked for 20 minutes, then basically did nothing. We thought he'd jump through a flaming hoop or something, but no. He did nothing exciting but I took a picture of his sweet outfit.

 Since we were striking out on much entertainment in downtown, we hopped on a boat and headed to a nice little island just across the bay and a town called Devonport.

 That's us on the boat in the picture above and below is a picture of downtown from the boat.

And this is a picture of Mary with clydesdales. They took people on tours of the island and I think Mary might have scared them with that face. After Mary got done with the horses we tried to climb Mount Victoria. It was a grueling hike that took hours, hard work, and dedication. Ok, that was a lie. It was really just a glorified hill, kind of like snow creek. But we did climb it and took some good pictures on top.

 Ryan and chase looking Japanese.

 Erin, Chase, and Ryan decided to get extreme and go off the beaten path.

 Panoramic view from the top.

 Me with downtown Auckland in the background

 Just hanging out at the top of the 'mountain'

 After the grueling hike, we decided to reward ourselves with some local wine in the island's town.

 After the wine, we continued our tour of the island which included this old tree with some crazy roots. Half the group is above and half is below. I'd like to think the better looking group is below.

 We finished off the day in Devonport with a meal at a local restaurant. Since we're in New Zealand and they are known for their lamb, we figured we had to try some. You can see our fancy looking dishes in the picture below. And yes, it was as good as it looked and that's coming from somebody who doesn't usually like lamb.

I couldn't finish this post without my picture of Mary driving her new Smartcar. Watch out world, she's a crazy driver.

That was a long, long day. The only thing I didn't have any pictures of was us carrying groceries back across town, mainly because my hands were full. My feet are sore and my face is red from the sun. I'm going to head to bed to get some sleep before the first day of the rotation. Let's hope that tomorrow is as much fun as today.