Auckland, New Zealand February 7, 2018

We arrived in New Zealand today, and it wasn't easy.  First, there was a big traffic jam on the way to the airport at 5:30-6:30am.  A truck was broken down in one lane of the 2-lane route to the Melbourne airport.  Then our flight was delayed by 4-5 hours because the Emirates plane broke down, and they had to send a substitute plane from Singapore.  So by the time we arrived at the hotel in Auckland, New Zealand it was early evening.

Here's a view from our Quality Hotel window in Parnell, a suburb of Auckland.

The Auckland area is hilly and the hotel appears to be at the top of one of the hills.  There are volcanoes (not active) in the surrounding area.  It appears to be constant cloud cover and the temperatures pretty much never deviate from a high of about 75 degrees to a low of about 63 degrees year around. 

Parnell appears to be an upscale suburb with plenty of shops and restaurants along Parnell Road, the main commercial street.