The day began with breakfast in Denny's. We were surprised to see this American diner in NZ, so had to give it a go. Andrew had Bacon Benny which was eggs benedict served on ciabatta with bacon, cheese sauce and served with hash browns. Mandy had meat lovers skillet which had bacon, ham, sausage, country fried potatoes with an omelette on top. It was right up our street!

We had thought about doing the hop-on hop-off bus tour, but since it was such a lovely day, we decided to walk the route instead. After breakfast we headed to Aotea Square to see the old town hall, the civic theatre and the performing arts centre. Then from there we passed the Library and the Art Gallery on our way to Albert Park, which is a lovely lush green park area with statues, fountains and flowers.

En route to Auckland domain, which hosts the Auckland Museum, we passed the University buildings and a traditional Marae, before taking a walk through a small forest area. Once at the domain we visited the winter gardens and the museum before continuing our journey through the area called Parnell.

Parnell was a lovely area with boutique shops and nice cafes and restaurants, it looked like a pretty expensive area to live in. There was also a rose garden and a beach area called Taurarua Bay and an outdoor pool area.

Mission Bay was next on the agenda but was quite far, but feeling spritely we decided to walk, again as the sun was shining and there was lots to see on the way. It took about 1hour 30mins to get to Mission Bay and by this time we needed a beer. We stopped for a couple of pints of Peroni, which went down a treat! Mission Bay was another lovely area, this time on a beach front with lots of restaurants and bars. There were loads of people out enjoying the weather and the beach. The hunger then kicked in so we headed to a Mexican we had spotted, it was really good as was the margarita that washed it all down. After a stroll along the beach we started our walk back. We never got back to the hotel until after 1930 and after a 20km round trip we couldn’t find the energy to get ready to go out again, so we took a bath and just spent the rest of the evening relaxing.