It was hard to say goodbye to the Albom family this morning.

We rolled into their yard intending to stay one night, perhaps two, as we attended a BBQ they’d planned for a group of travelers converging on Auckland. They’ve been collecting mail for us for weeks, storing up our treasures from overseas for our arrival. What we found, instead of generous strangers, was wonderful friends. Within 24 hours it felt like we’d known them for years, instead of hours.

They promptly moved us into their spare bedroom and let me cook meals for them in their spacious kitchen (my camper kitchen is an exercise in gratefulness and perspective!) We sat, evenings, on their airy deck overlooking the Pacific and counted swans flying by as the sun turned the cliff faces every shade of mustard to rust.

We hiked Shakespear (no, I did not forget the E, it’s a family name) Park, up through the rolling hills and open sheep fields, ewes scattering before our footsteps. The sun warmed our shoulders and the breeze dried the sweat on our brows from the climb.

The view from the lookout is a stunning 360 panorama of sea and peninsula and sky. One of those places that takes your breath away, even as you take deep breaths to try hard to make it part of your soul forever. On the list of perfect places in the world, this one would certainly rate highly for lots of people. They’re beyond lucky to call it home!

Using their place as a base we explored Auckland a little bit.

Our passports (shiny and new!) were retrieved from the US consulate. We’ve submitted our applications for an extended visa to New Zealand Immigration, fingers crossed! We lunched on the waterfront, craning our necks to look way up at the ridiculously enormous cruise ships docked along the wharf. That is a mode of travel we haven’t tried yet, and the kids chattered about what it must be like to live inside one of those beasts for a while.

The Auckland Museum is fantastic. If you find yourself in NZ, make a point of going. The highlight for us was, without question, the Maori cultural performance.

The Maori are the indigenous people of NZ and the music, dance, and cultural display put on at the museum was educational, as well as entertaining. The Haka gives me goosebumps every time.

Hannah videoed it for you:

The Voyager Maritime Museum is also a gem, right down on the waterfront in Auckland. We love sailing and have been to many maritime museums around the world. This one is dedicated to all things Polynesian, and the array of boats and canoes are unlike any we’ve seen elsewhere. Couple that with the engrossing story of New Zealand’s feats of daring and speed in round the world and other ocean going races and you have a museum thoroughly worthy of an afternoon.

The kids (theirs and ours) are living on the promise that we will be back to visit in a few months.