63 and free

The Maori name for Auckland (noted above) is the much more interesting version. It means ‘isthmus of one thousand lovers’. Now I wanna know who Isthmus was.

I think they mistranslated it. It really means ‘isthmus with no flat ground’, or ‘turbocharged Bernie-time’.

According to Bernie’s iWatch, she had over 26k steps today, spread over 16.4 km – which means that I had about 13k steps (😁). Apparently we climbed 61 stories…which I believe is an absolute minimum (Apple🙄).

This first stop was the Auckland Sky tower:

We had our Hallmark moment:

After checking out the waterfront at Viaduct harbour (pretty awesome), we ended up taking the ferry over to Devonport, where we climbed Mount Victoria (is there a country in the Commonwealth that doesn’t have a mountain or harbour named after Vicky??)

Upon returning to central Auckland, we hoofed it up to Albert Park and then down to the ‘Auckland Domain’. ‘Cause…trees!

Then it was time for dinner, so we plodded down the slope, then back up and into the Parnell area for Italian. Charming little family-run business called “Portofino”. The food was absolutely delicious!

We made a slight mistake, ignoring that the last leg was down, and then uuuuuupppppp to our hotel.

We are now hobbling about the room like proper centenarians.

There is no video of that, thank you very much.