One of the striking features of Auckland is the volcanoes that surround the city. When Rachel and Regan picked us up a couple of days ago, they said "We thought we'd take you up to some of the volcanoes around the city. I thought - volcanoes? Really? As it turns out, there are dormant (not extinct) volcanoes all around. Compared to something like Mt. St. Helens or Mt. Rainier in Washington, these are tiny, just a few hundred feet high. They provide great vistas for viewing the city and other volcanoes. Our favorite was North Head on Devonsport, where we snapped this shot.
Speaking of Devonsport, we met Robin Capper there last night. Robin is a local and someone I met through a guy named Buzz Bruggeman, who knows most of the people on earth it seems. Robin helped us learn more about local culture and politics and joined us for a folk music concert at a place called The Bunker. As it turned out, it was in a real bunker on the top of Mount Victoria and was thoroughly entertaining. Folk singers (here and in the US) seem to be very, um, folky and they like to sing along. In a rather weird moment, we saw "House of the Rising Sun" played at very low volume with a "flying V" guitar. Here are a couple of shots from Mount Victoria... For some reason, we were under the impression that we'd pick up our campervan today, but, as we found this morning, it's tomorrow. So, we have one more day in Auckland before heading north.
