Last Day of Vacation

Since we were feeling lazy, we only did one sightseeing item all day.  A trip to the top of Mt Eden in Auckland. 

No road to the top here.  We had to climb.  This is a level area on the way up where we took in the sights.  This is downtown Auckland with a view of the Sky Tower.  The Sky Tower (Māori: Pourewa Rangi) is a telecommunications and observation tower.  At 1,076 ft, it is the tallest freestanding structure in the Southern Hemisphere and the 28th tallest tower in the world. We thought about going to the observation tower but were discouraged because of our disappointing trip to the Tower Eye in Sydney.  There people were in the way of the views as they sat in the window seats playing with their phones.  

As I said, we still had some climbing to do. 

They were doing some improvements and we were unable to go all the way to the top. 

View of One Tree Hill from Mt Eden. 

This top part was a boardwalk, while lower down it was metal grating. 

Looking down at lower walkway.

The crater. 

Lunch

Good stuff!

Once at the Auckland airport, I think we were at the farthest terminal.  Signs told us there weren't any stores or food available where we were going.  After several escalators and long corridors, we made it to our gate only to be told to go back to a previous gate.  They had everyone going through another security checkpoint before going to the farthest gates. We had quite a wait because we had gotten there early 

Our ride back to the States. 

Once again we were in Premium Plus seating and got a convenience pack.  I have enough lounging socks now.  LOL.  This flight was only 11 hours long. 

Approaching San Francisco. 

Interesting thing at San Francisco.