As I mentioned before, my real reason for being in Auckland, New Zealand, was to attend a Board meeting for the Society of American Travel Writers. Due to this, most of my time was unfortunately spent inside of hotel conference rooms but I took every opportunity to get out and explore when out of session. Each morning before breakfast I would grab a camera and take a walk — often through Albert Park which was just a few (steep!) blocks from the hotel. That’s where the photo above was taken, in part to prove that it was indeed Spring down under. That and I liked how the flower forms echoed the shape of Sky Tower.

For being such a long flight away — around 12 hours from LAX — New Zealand felt less foreign than many places I’ve been. The fact that they speak english helps of course, but the country was also settled at roughly the same time as the area where I have lived all my life. An 1860s building is old in New Zealand as it is here in Kansas. There aren’t a lot of ancient reminders around to let you know that you’re far from home.

That said, every now and then you’d run into something like this tree, the scale of which was altogether foreign in my terms (note the woman walking just behind the park bench for a size reference):

We’re looking for a shade tree for our side yard and what I wouldn’t give to have that baby! I don’t think I could wait the hundreds if not thousands of years it would take to reach that size, though.

I’ll end with a few more architectural shots from my morning walks and the last from the window of my room at the Sky City Grand Hotel that was located right at the base of the Sky Tower. With a landmark like that, it was no problem finding my way home from those walks.