Auckland Cup Week

Auckland NZ prides itself on being the sailing capital of the world. It's also called the City of Sails. We were lucky to get to ride on one of the boats that they use for the America's Cup sailing competition. The races were actually going on during the time we were there. This crew required participation from all the passengers though, they weren't going to do all the work for us, it was a ton of fun. The Weather in Auckland was a lot like Hawaii, it'd be bright and sunny one minute and then turn cloudy, have a little rain the next, it was warm rain though so we didn't mind.

Sam and his friend Craig "grinding", that's what they call it when you're changing the position of the sails.

While we were on the boat, this helicopter came really close to us and just hovered by us, I wondered if the pilot was trying to show the people inside the America's Cup Boat!
The Beautiful city of Auckland, and some of the beautiful boats that some lucky someone owns...

Dinner that night was down at the wharf, fresh seafood, the guys all got the seafood platters.

The next day we were off to the South Island, headed for Queenstown. It was fun to get on and off the plane using ladders, I'd never done that before, kind of felt like a celebrity....

These were our travel buddies... Maria and Max, Craig and Julie... We had a lot of fun together!