Blogs from Mount Eden, Auckland, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania

Don't know why we have such bad luck with airports! There was atone hangs before we left Chile so wewent about early to the airport. Did that help a bit, no. We wanted to leave our stuff and go browse but unfortunatelafoot us the gate wouldn't open until 7 o clock, no one knew what gate exactlyso we were of waiting in a line, anyhow in the end weblog there afterspoke time butwehave to say that LAN dI'd not impress us, there was one counter serving our flight and there wereabout 10 ppl outside to "help" customers! We arrived in Auckland a bit early, we were waitgnt for our host to pickups up, it was our first time as couch surfers. To those who are not familiar with it, you go to someone's house free of ... read more

This past week I went to my first rugby game! It was between the Auckland Blues and the Wellington Hurricanes. Unfortunately the Blues lost 25-26 right at the end of the game. It was very interesting watching the game seeing as I don't know all the rules. Even so, it was highly entertaining and I had a blast! Before the game Diamond and tried to buy some blue face paint for the occasion, but we couldn't find any. At the game we saw a younger girl (about 12) with some so we went to ask her if she bought that at the stadium. (In Mt. Eden) She did not but she did offer us some of hers, so we ended up getting face paint afterall! This little girl was really nice and we talked to her ... read more

We are about 6/7 weeks behind on our blog and have now left Asia. We arrived in Auckland, New Zealand today from Singapore (with an 8 hour layover at night in Brisbane) and we plan to travel around till March 15th when we fly to Sydney. The end of our Asian adventure was a miserable one! We both got Dengue fever, an illness passed by mosquito. It was an awful experience and we're now glad to be out of Asia. The way we're still feeling, weak and tired, we probably would have taken a flight home rather than to New Zealand if we had the choice back in Singapore. I'm sure after a good week of recuperation and seeing what New Zealand has to offer we'll be rejuvenated and more upbeat about travelling. My symptoms first ... read more

I'm very sorry that I have no accompanying photos for this post but someone stole my laptop in Sydney a few nights ago and my camera is in my rucksack which Pacific Blue Airlines kindly left in Australia when they flew me to New Zealand. I woke up that morning and decided to meet Jonas (the Belgian) in Sydney. I looked for a good spot to hitch from on the map and went to the supermarket to buy some fruit for the road. While paying I asked the lady the way to the highway and she directed me but said it was quite a walk. I brushed it off but the woman behind me, with her seven year old girl in tow, offered to take me there. She seemed a little wary but told me I ... read more

Ready for the travels! Going to be NZ for a year and than we'll see from there on. Stay with me - there's gonna be some awesome pics following eventually :-P... read more

Sunday 17th October: After a good flight, we arrived in Auckland at 04:30am where the hire car was ready and waiting. "Satnav Dave" with his in-built compass found the hotel with ease and we were granted early check-in at no extra cost and with a smile. So far, New Zealand is ticking all the boxes. We slept until 1pm but there are places to see and adventures to be had, so we dragged ourselves out of the very comfy beds and went to explore Auckland city. We headed for the Skytower as the most obvious landmark - Dave is scared of heights but very bravely stood on the reinforced glass floor 270m up(proud of you babe). However, we then watched a couple of people take a tower jump and Dave decided this was a step too ... read more

So I guess no trip to New Zealand is complete without watching a bit of Rugby. We have actually managed to secure ourselves tickets to watch the All Blacks vs Ireland in June which I am very excited about. Finally I get to see the Haka live done by the team! We were not sure about getting these tickets and trust me it was a fight on the website as soon as they went on sale. Sooooo just in case we had decided that as it was Super 14 time we should get tickets to go and see the blues play at home at Mount Eden. Actually getting to the event is a cinch as there is a free bus service which leaves from Queen Street just outside the City Hall. We expect a lot of ... read more

Musics galore! Went to the Big Day Out on the 19th, had such a good time. Work was crazy busy before, as everyone from the entire country comes up to Auckland and, obviously, need somewhere to stay. But the Day itself was gorgeous and sunny but not too hot, and Midnight Youth and The Decemberists were awesome, and Kasabian were prats. Muse was the headliners, and had a brilliant laser light show thingy, but as I don't really know most of their older songs I could only sing along to a few ("we will be . . . victoooorrrrrrioussss!"). In between these two events my job finished and I worked at the hostel for a couple of weeks as a cleaner. But these are unimportant, trifling little details. Then, went to see Them Crooked Vultures! So ... read more