Down Under Day Four

Today's itinerary involved an all day "bush and beach" tour. We got picked up by the tour operator in the morning at our hotel, via minivan. After picking up the other participants at their various hotels and what not, we set off for Auckland's West Coast, by way of a scenic cruise through the city. There were a few potty breaks and rest stops along the way, but the latter were not especially vegan friendly, which is why we had strategically and fortuitously brought PB&J sammies with us (prepped during breakfast at the hotel that morning). Take that vegan haters!

After lunch, we visited a nature area for a brief tour of local flora, followed by a picnic at a black sand surfing beach, whose claim to fame is that the sand is magnetic (and also surfing). It was lovely, especially since the weather was great too.

After the tour, we had the driver drop us off near the Auckland Sky Tower, instead of our hotel, so we could revisit the Sunflower Vegan Cafe that we went to on our first day. We once again ordered too much food, forgetting that NZ restaurants do not skimp on portion sizes. So we had to force down two servings of curry and a serving of Tom Kha soup (all with sides of rice), as well as a dessert we had had our eye on during our first visit there. Needless to say, I had to eat the lion's share of the food once Deborah had eaten her fill.

We walked back to the hotel to find our electrical outlets were all out of power. We called the front desk and they fixed the problem. We decided to check out the rooftop bar at the hotel, and it proved quite lame. My expectations were far higher.

Then we slumbered.

Fin.