Day 160 New Zealand, Bay of Isles to Auckland, and Auckland sites.

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Hi everyone,



Today we were heading back to Auckland; we had to get up early as our bus back was at 0810. We woke to the chorus of the Asian girls drying their hair!!! They were heading to the Waimoto Forest we had gone to yesterday, so we gave the guy some tips on where to stop and everything.



We left the keys of our rental car at the reception and headed off to the bus. It was only a 5 min walk from the hostel so we got there early and had a relaxing sit around. Our bus turned up a bit late, we had the chattiest bus driver ever!!! He would not shut up!!!



About 10 minutes into the bus journey a girl at the back piped up and said our luggage has all fallen out!! He stopped and we found he had not locked the side doors; everyone’s luggage fell out and was smashed up…apart from one bag remained on the bus: Vicks!! We got the bags back on and double-checked it was locked and headed off.



The driver then spoke for 40 min’s without stopping while Vick and I were trying to watch a TV show!! After 4 long hours we final got to Auckland!! (Again)



We only had a 5 min walk up to our hostel, we stayed at a place called the “Choice Backpacker Hostel”, it was only $18 a night but clean and served our purpose. After checking in and dropping the bags off we gave Eduardo (our couch surfing host from a few days ago) a ring as he and his wife Susane offered to give us a tour of Auckland.



They were running late as Eduardo was still working so it gave us time to grab some lunch. We went to a Gloria’s coffee House as they had a special on for lunch, we both had a tea each and then got lunch for $10, which was a bargain as it was normally $18. I had a pulled pork roll (it was amazing) and Vick had smoked salmon toasted sandwich (she said it was good). We got a little Wi-Fi then left, as we walked around the corner Eduardo and Susane turned up (perfect timing).



We said our hello in the car then headed off to Mount Eden. Mount Eden was amazing, there were great views of the city and the surrounding area and there was a huge crater at the top (I hope the photos do it justice).



We then headed to One Tree Hill, this was a large park area given to the people of Auckland by someone Eduardo said but I have forgotten (sorry Eduardo). Once there we headed up to a Mount peak, which had views of the park, it was sublime.



Next we went to the botanical gardens, here we saw the Anzac giant poppy, the people of Auckland had laid out 59,000 metal pads to make a poppy, the majority of them had messages on. The botanical gardens were really cool, with loads of tropical flowers and plants growing, Eduardo kept pointing out what came from Brazil.



We went to a mountain on our way to Devonport, from here we could see all the kite surfers on the beach. We walked around the old tunnels that housed all the gun lookouts and ammunition.



We headed off to Devonport; this is where the dockyard is and the navy museum in Port Douglas. The museum was free and a really interesting walk around, we saw all the history of New Zealand’s navy, also we got to dress up- hope you like our silly photos. We headed to Mount Victoria, this was where the old gun stations were and we could climb in the area where the guns are, hope you see the size of it in the pictures.



We then headed back into the city, on the way we stopped off at the harbour to get a good pic of the city and bridge.



We then went to a market for dinner but not a normal market…out here they have markets in the underground car parks after hours. They had everything you could think of and it smelt so so good!!! We all got dumpling’s to share, $5 for 15 pork dumpling!! So cheap and so good!!! We then walked around and everyone chose their own man course, I had Vietnamese beef noodle soup, Vick/Eduardo and Susane had Paella. All was cheap and tasty. Vick and I then shared an ice cream before setting off. In the corner of the car park there was a 9-year old playing guitar and singing, he was amazing. We never got his name but watch this space.



Eduardo and Susane then drove us back to our hostel, we said our goodbyes had cuddles all around then they left. It was only 2000 so we headed up to sort out o our stuff and to decide on what to do. As it happened Vick was shattered so I watched a film in the hallway charging up our stuff while Vick read (really nodded off) I finished the film and came to bed, Vick woke up but after a quick chat we both entered the land of nod!!



Excited about picking up our camper van tomorrow!!!



Night all,



Love N&V X

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