Suzi and Jeff have known each other all their lives.  They were born three months apart and grew up in the same neighborhood in St. Paul.  Jeff’s mother was a New Zealand war bride.  When Jeff was a teenager, he got a Model A Ford.  A little later Suzi’s dad got a Model A that Suzi was allowed to drive.  Jeff taught her how to drive the stick shift.  When Suzi’s mom died her dad eventually married a widow from the same neighborhood and five of the neighborhood kids became Suzi’s step siblings.  Jeff married one of those step siblings so he became Suzi’s brother in law.   I’ve known Jeff for more than half a century as well.  Jeff’s parents had a condo in Devonport across the harbor from Auckland and Jeff has lived there part of the year since his wife passed away.  His sister Patty lives there at other times.  He is still a working architect. 

We’ve been to Auckland four times and each time have taken the ferry to Devonport for lunch with either Jeff or his sister.  So, on our first day in Auckland, we had breakfast and grabbed a ferry across the harbor.

We had lunch with Jeff at a Devonport restaurant and went to the apartment.  We spent a lot of time remembering people and events, discussing current events, trends in architecture and a lot of things old friends talk about.  We talked into the evening, ordered a pizza and talked some more.  It was one of the nicest days of the cruise.

We left at about sunset on the ferry back downtown. 

We got to the ship just in time to see the culture show at 9PM.

After the show I went out to the bow for a few more pictures of Auckland and then to bed.  This time we had a two say stop and we had some things to see.