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Published: January 20th 2007
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Today is the final day with the car so we are heading to Auckland and will stay in the city tonight. We were advised by the campsite owners to drive around the coast as its a better drive. Set off about 10am to get there in plenty of time - unfortunately the free map did not have too much detail of the peninsular so we ended up a little lost! Managed to make it up to Auckland in the end; its much busier here than on the rest of the island lots more traffic, people and road rage!
Found the backpackers without too much hassle, dropped our stuff off before heading to the Airport to take our stuff back. Despite it being a little muddy (!) everything was fine and after a short cab ride we were back in the town. Beck found somewhere to get a waxing done and Paul found a hairdressers; They can fit us in during the morning so its nice and easy. Wandered down the main street towards the Quay to find the Salvation Army store which was supposed to be on Queen St. Were hoping to donate some of our gear to some needier
people - however it was not to be and we could not track it down. Did a little internet stuff and tried to get some pictures burnt onto a DVD but the guy could not get it to work. After that we headed back up Queen St past a huge Santa who was wagging his finger and winking at you (bizzarre!!). Dinner was in a Pizza and beer place where there was only a single fairly stressed waiter/cook/barman; He kept delivering the wrong orders to the wrong people, but when it did come the food was excellent and good value for money - good enough for Paul to scoff two Pizzas (getting ready for being in the USA!)
Not a good nights sleep - unfortunately the room was stuffy and very noisy; the room is on a major road and near some traffic lights. Its a shame as we are not likely to get much sleep tonight either; the flight is not until 10pm and we do not arrive until 3am - oh well, thats cheap RTW tickets for you! After a shower and some breakfast we left all the stuff we did not need anymore - box, washing up liquid, some food, spices etc in the communal area. Went back about 15 minutes later and it was all gone - gannets! Over breakfast we spoke to a German couple who were cycling around NZ with a 4 year old in a trailer - very inspiring.
Checked out and left our kit in the storage room, headed over to the internet place for 1/2 hour before Paul went to speak to his folks. Cook Islands looks to be about 1.5 GBP per minute and about the most expensive place to call from in the world so we needed to catch up before hand and then just say happy xmas on the 25th. Beck got 'defurred', but not all that well by a Chinese lady who used some melted gunk instead of wax - very odd apparently. After the worlds largest chicken burger at a local takeaway stall we grabbed the tent and some other stuff we were hoping to flog, wandered down Queen St. to the train station and headed out to New Market, an Auckland suburb - quite a nice place and a little more funky than the main town. Eventually tracked down a cash converters; they were only really interested in the tent, and even then not really. We managed to get $25 back for it so we did win financially in the end.
Back to Auckland and left some T-shirts we did not want in the kitchen, again within 10 minutes they were gone! A quick visit to the sky tower and took a look around, but the visibility was not too good so the financial commitee decided it was not worth the $20 each to go up. Had time to catch up with some banking; in the cooks we are going to be very cut off; before the taxi came to take us to the airport. Transfer was fine and got the tickets re-issued as we are no londer going to Fiji and checked in with the minimum of fuss - wandered through customs to find that the only real food choice was Burger King; not a healthy diet over the last few days. Hung around for a couple of hours - Beck managed to have a quick chat with her Dad before it was time to go. Flight was find but there were no TV Screens - Paul tried to get some shut eye whilst Beck added a pie and a couple of choc ices to the days calories
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