We landed in Auckland, New Zealand. The weather? Not pass-out-from-the-heat hot. Pleasant. Not too warm, not too cool, but just right. 
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| From New Zealand |
We’re staying in a serviced apartment at the moment. It’s cheaper than a hotel, has a small kitchen, a washer/dryer, and is really convenient to the CBD (central business district) in Auckland. It’s also really really small. And it’s on the 17th floor, so we get a decent view. 
I like views.
All these photos were taken from our balcony.
The first photo (above) is of the harbour. Next we have the downtown area. Well, some of it, anyway.
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| From New Zealand |
Another shot of the harbour.
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| From New Zealand |
The harbour at night.
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A shot of the street outside our place.
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| From New Zealand |
We’re a few short blocks from Queen Street, which is the central shopping district in the CBD. Everything’s there. There are superettes everywhere and restaurants and cafes, too.
The only real problem? We’re on a hill. And, from what I can tell, Auckland CBD is hilly, or at least, the parts where we’ve been is hilly. Up hills, down hills, everywhere we go, there are hills. My leg muscles are not entirely happy about that. But theoretically, in a month or so of walking those hills every day or other day, it won’t be so bad…
Quid! It was with great pleasure I got on Eric’s message board and saw in an old post that you had moved to New Zealand and still had your blog. it seems with all the difficulties and dangers of living in Sri Lanka, that New Zealand must be quite enjoyable. Have your legs adjusted to the hills yet? How’s the family business going. Get posting girl! I want to see New Zealand through your delightfully humorous eyes! And how have you found the church in that area? We have since moved from San Antonio, Tx up to the next town called Bulverde. I love it much better! Small town, rural, wildlife and trees, etc. I just finished getting my second daughter married off and had some down time to check on the old board and see how everyone was doing. So best wishes on your new adventure!
Leslie
Oops! You might not remember that Leslie is also RenLass
RenLass! That is likely how I’ll always remember you…
It just gives such a lovely, I don’t know, aura to you – makes me think you’re always happy and upbeat. 
Funny thing about New Zealand… It didn’t work out. We left at the end of July, actually. I should really update the blog. The business end of things was going fine, in fact, but immigration decided to change some conditions after we arrived that were not, ah, entirely friendly. So we both prayed about it and decided that it was time for us to leave, so we did.
We’re currently in Sri Lanka while we plan our next steps.
The ward I was in was delightfully balanced and down to earth and multicultural – about a third of the ward was Maori, a third Chinese, and about a third white with other variations thrown in. It was diverse and lovely.
You’re old enough to have daughters getting married? Congrats on the second daughter. I hope it wasn’t too stressful.