Woke up this morning with absolutely nothing planned for the day. After three and a half weeks of almost nonstop touring and traveling we were looking forward to having a casual day to ourselves before we depart for home tomorrow.

After a late breakfast we ventured out of the hotel to wander the immediate vicinity. It was a leisurely walk. Staying within a six-block radius, we casually window shopped and popped into the odd shop. Again, the lack of Christmas decorations and advertising felt odd as Christmas was only a couple of days away. We did finally find a department store, Smith & Caughey's on Queen Street, that was quite Christmassy inside. After making a couple of small purchases we carried on.

The central business district of Auckland is quite hilly so our walk took a toll on a couple of out-of-shape oldsters. Making our way back to Skycity shortly after lunch, we spent the rest of the day and evening lounging around our suite, packing & repacking our suitcases and wandering the Skycity complex.