well we've had a couple days in auckland now. it was most of a full day to get here - a 3+ hr flight plus 2 hr time change and international check-in (slow) and transports to and from cities... left our AU hotel about 9.30 a.m. and got here about 5 or 5.30 p.m. Quantas airline wouldn't let us have our carseat on plane for stupid reasons and lame people. but they gave aidan a nifty Wallace and Grommet fanny pack with cards and coloring stuff and other things. lunch wasn't bad and we had about 8 movie channels to chose from (altho i think almost all movies were terminated just before they finished for landing!). auckland has surprised me a bit by seeming a bit more spread out than i expected. brisbane had at least one internet cafe per block - usually more, and a food court just about every block - and here it is more like a block between restaurants - at least where we are staying. hotel is supposed to be one of the 2 or 3 top hotels in town - and it is nice. such an amazing deal in US$. food ditto. if you look at any pics of auckland - we are about a block toward the water from the big space needle. we have alot of exploring to do. so far me & the boys have spent from about 10 til 3 both days going the (long) 5 or 6 blocks - 1/2 mile???? to the grocery store (a nice big one) with a park just this side of it with the only playground downtown (not at all impressive). today we had company - another wife from pete's company and her 13 1/2 month old girl Isabella. funny enough they live near us in the city (noe valley) altho we hadn't met them before. they'll be here another week which will be fun. we have a nice view out of our suite toward the water - aidan likes the buiding cranes he can see. pete and i were interested that the 2 most prominent building signage we see are for ibm and microsoft. tomorrow i hope to ride the local "link" bus that does a loop around the city to get oriented a bit more. and then maybe we'll have to stroll in the opposite direction down victoria toward the harbor and supposed shops and restaurants that i haven't found yet.