Mt. Eden

 Mt. Eden is a now dormant volcano in Auckland.  There is a trail beginning with a stairway and connecting with a pretty trail higher up the side of the mountain.

 It took us about 20 minutes of walking this trail before we reached the top.  Part of the trail ran next to the road for those who would rather drive up.  We actually didn't know about the road but we enjoyed the hike.

 The crater.  It must be very old for it to be closed up and overgrown like this.  It looked as if there were trails leading down into the crater and Kyle and the kids were thrilled to do it.  I, however, knew that if I walked down I would have to walk back up and the sides are very steep.  So I went higher up to the vantage point and Kyle took the kids down to the lip of the crater...

....where they found this sign.

 Here are some views from the look out point at the very top.  What a gorgeous day this was.  The tall spire to the right of the picture is the Sky Tower where people can bungee jump off the top and where the Weta Cave is located at the bottom.

 This is Sam, crushing the Sky Tower.

 When our trip was extended a second time, we decided to go back to Mt. Eden.  This time we drove to the top and walked a bit away from the crater to find this little valley.  Jacob is looking across to the other side contemplating running across and back.

 And of course, he does it.

 Kyle is not to be outdone by his son, so he takes his turn.

 He fell down at this point and went rolling but I was laughing too hard to take a picture.

 There he is.  Little speck between the trees.  It's a long way to run, especially uphill both ways.

 Now they have to run it together and race.

 Looks like the competition is over as they walk to the top on the other side.  They take a little breather and then race back.

No way is Kyle going to lose to his son.  There is too much competition in both of them. They had a great time doing this.  They both did the run about 4 or 5 times each.  Analee, Sam, and I just sat on the bench and watched the entertainment. So did the other people who were there.  It was funny.