Day 1 - Auckland

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5th January 2011

Arrived in Auckland in the early hours of the morning and got the shuttle bus to hostel. It took me about 3 hours from landing to getting to the hostel! They had 2 or 3 people working at the passport desks and I think there were 3 flights that landed in the space of half an hour!
Anyways I checked into the hostel and went to bed pretty much straight away and didn’t wake up until gone 12 the next day. Bit annoying as I only had planned one day in Auckland before I was going up to Piahia (the bay of islands). I then spent a good hour trying to find a super market to get some food for the day before I gave in and brought a subway. After lunch I made my way to Auckland museum as it had been recommended by a friend, it took about 30 minutes to get there and yes I did get lost on the way! The museum was free to enter but I didn’t realise until after I left that they like you to give a donation of $5-10. Oops!
It was a relatively big museum and it had all sorts of stuff from the Maori couture to the history of New Zealand. The best part was the earthquake house, you go into a small house which has been made into a living room, the TV is on and there are sofas to sit on. After about 5 minutes of being in the living room you start to hear a rumbling sound and the house starts to shake as if you’re in an earthquake. It really makes you think how scary a real earthquake would be!
After the museum I wondered around town and checked out the harbour before heading back to the hostel around 5 or 6pm. I met a guy called Jamie who was in the dorm (also from England) and we chatted for a bit and then watched a film on my laptop. He was also doing the Kiwi Experience but spending a few days in Auckland whilst waiting for his friend to arrive – no doubt he catch up on the way round though.

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