Last days in Auckland

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DVD day, Goat Island 14th, 15th Browns Bay, 16th Tried to fly to Hawaii

So our time in Auckland has come to an end...after our day at Piha we just lounged around and watched DVDs! Was nice to chill out and not do anything :-) Have packed so much into our trip that chill out days have been very rare so this fortnight around Auckland has been good to just go to the beach or watch DVDs.....going to beaches due to lack of funds! But they are gorgeous beaches and I don't mind spending a few hours lying there doing nothing!! Hehe, am I rubbing it in enough?! It does happen though, you go on holiday to 'get away from it all,' and you're so busy packing things in on your trip that u feel like you need another holiday after your holiday! So yeah has been nice to do nout for a change. Really got into the New Zealand lifestyle :-) That evening we went to dinner round Gary & Sara's, watched Celebrity Masterchef....was hard to keep tight lipped as obviously that came out at home earlier last year!! Saw the final last night though so it's all out in the open! Sara was routing for Liz.

When we visited Jayn & Rob in 1998 we also went to Goat Island, Dan and I drove there on the 14th Jan. It was a very busy beach but you get to see all the fish swimming up by your feet...saw Blue Maumau, Snappers and a few others that I will have to look up! Was probably the hottest day we have had, couldn't sit out in the sun for long and I even had to cover up my legs as I could feel the burn setting in. Didn't get burnt though, you're always careful after getting burnt!

That brings me to our last couple of days in New Zealand, we chilled out on our favourite beach here at Browns Bay. Not too busy and it's on the east coast so not as rough as the west side black sand beaches. Was a scorcher there too. In the evening Jayn had arranged a leaving party for us! We have met lots of Jayn's friends so was nice to say farewell over some beers.

We were suppose to fly out yesterday but the story goes... we went to the airport to check in for our flight to Honolulu via Fiji. We checked in fine and then went to the duty free to get a coffee with Jayn & Rob.....sat there and looked up at the electronic screens and our filght to Fiji had been delayed -to later on that evening meaning that we would miss our connecting flight from Fiji to Honolulu (as it is a different plane).....we checked when the next flight out of Fiji would be to Hawaii and there isn't one for another 3 days....therefore meaning we would have to spend 2 nights in Fiji. The Qantas rep was very helpful (unlike Air Pacific the flight operator on behalf of Qantas) and she advised us on the quiet that staying in Fiji wouldn't be advisable, her colleague is stuck there at the moment in a hotel without power. That made the decision for us and had heard there isn't a lot to do at the airport in Fiji! We had already checked in our bags for our flight but we retrieved them and have booked on a flight that goes to Honolulu today via Sydney....longer trip but we should get there and will be good to avoid Fiji. Didn't cost to change our flight and no problem to stay with Jayn another night. Haha she thought she was getting rid of us! Will lose a night at the hostel in Hawaii but isn't much and not 100% sure if we will get charged anyway...have called the hostel to let them know and they are fine with it.

So happy days! One less night in Hawaii but no worries, will be a good excuse to go back!

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