Its Christmas!

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So we have not updated our blog for the past few days. We left the Bay of Islands to mixed weather, so we decided to just eat up the journey, as we would be charged extra for the van if it was late!! We stopped briefly at a gorgeous beach, only for Graham to almost to lose his trainer in some sinking sand. We arrived back at R & N's and quickly empted the van, before scooting up the road with just minutes to spare at the rental firm.

On christmas eve, we actually did our first of christmas shopping in a huge mall before heading to a thermal park for the day to soak up the sunshine. The park was in a place called Waiwera, on the outskirts of Auckland..with lots of different pools of hot springs of varying temperature. I only managed sitting in the 40 degree pool for two minutes, as it felt like you were getting slowly poached..it was really bizzare chilling in a hot pool in your bikini outside on christmas eve!!

Driving around Auckland you see very few traces that it is christmas, the odd subtle tree and a few shops playing chrissie tunes....its almost easy to forget it is Christmas!!

Last night we headed 328 metres up the Sky Tower to dine in Orbit which rotates 360 degrees, to give you views 80km in all directions over Auckland. It was really high up and we were all feeling a bit queesy until we were distracted by the menu. For the benefit of my mum who is a real foody....I had to start with rare venison, soaked in soy with a beetroot, artichoke and bean salad, Graham and Richard had pasta dishes to start, and Neil had smoked salmon - all which were devine!!! For main I had snapper with a risotto, Graham and Neil had the Rib eye, and richard had lamb....for pudding Richard and I had a chocolaty, merengue thing, Graham had a fig and macademia crumble and neil had a green tea brullee all were delicious.

If anyone visits Auckland, dinner in Orbit is a must, the food is the bomb and the view is amazing!! I feel a bit harsh about my earlier comments about Auckland it is much nicer than my earlier ratings! We spent the rest of the night getting up to no good in the skytower, riding up and down in the lift, tap dancing on the glass floor in viewing platform, and invading santa's grotto for a drunken photo opportunity not to be missed.

We then went to the Sky City casino, which is the biggest I have ever seen! Everybody won money apart from me, but we didnt stay long as the lure of the $1 pokeys instead of the 2c pokeys was getting too much for some! On the way home we stopped off in a street where they have really embraced the Christmas spirit and the houses are dripping with decorations and lights, it seemed the street was a big local attraction as lots of family's were wandering around enjoying the sights.

So its Christmas day, Merry christmas to everyone! Its weird wearing your shorts and bikini on Christmas day, especially for Graham he just cant get used to the way it cups his man boobs.....some things are the same though we are watching sound of music ( sing along ) while Richard prepares the turkey and ham, mmmmmmmm yumy !!

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