Here we are, back where we started over two months ago - same hotel, different room though. Auckland is a beautiful city and we hope to more of it in the four days we are here.

Saturday we went to the Auckland museum which we missed when we were here before. But instead of going through the exhibits, we spent most of the day watching live performances by Maori and Tongan groups. We arrived during the last two days of the Auckland Arts Festival and the performances at the museum where part of the festival. We did manage a tour of the museum so we could plan what we were going to see when we returned the next day.

That night we went to a performance of One Man, Two Guvnors a hilarious British farce at the Edge Theater about two blocks from our hotel. We had seen that advance ads for the show when we were in Auckland in January and decided t0 go if it was still playing when we returned. We saw it on its last day.

The next day we went back to the museum. There is a special exhibit on wearable art (basically costumes though they have some wild-looking bras). The work was really beautiful but no photography was allowed. Laura did get a book on the exhibit.

The museum also has extensive sections on the Maori where we spent a lot of time. There is also a small holocaust section.

On Monday we felt lazy so we took a ferry to Devonport and walked along the beach. This is a beach with a difference – it's black and it's not sand but lava. Then we hung out in the park until I was time to take the ferry back.

On our last day we took the ferry to Waiaheke island for a wine tour. We're not much for wine but it was a very good tour and we had a great day. We visited two vineyards, a vineyard/microbrewery and an olive grove. We had lunch at the Stony Ridge vineyard so named because it slopes down from a stony ridge, then the olive grove. We also stopped at the Mudbrick vineyard named for its mudbrick buildings and also the vineyard/ brewery called Wild in Waiaheke. The ale they brew was decent but nothing to write home about. They do make a very nice ginger beer. On the plus side the weather was beautiful, the ferry ride was very pleasant and the scenery was gorgeous. All in all a good way to wind up our vacation.