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Published: April 1st 2007
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Viaduct
Lovely lighting in the viaduct, this is a better picture of it Well we arrived in New Zealand safe and sound. It was a long trip getting here, but it was all in good order. We got to LAX airport with lots of time to spare and thanks to Andy's height we got given the emergency exit seats - fantastic! This meant that we had loads of room for our 12.5 hour flight. Customs was quick and easy and then we had to wait for our plane to actually arrive at the terminal, used to planes being late by now though.
We got onto the plane and found that our seats were amazing, and we had so much room, and we were close to the toilets, thank you Andy's legs! We were flying Qantas, and it was the first time for both of us. We were both really impressed with the whole package, especially with the entertainment system - 'On Demand', which meant we had loads of films,TV and music that we could watch or listen to at any time. This really helped the long journey I can tell you. Tip for everyone....when 'Deja Vu' and 'The Departed' comes out in the UK - Watch both of them, they really are
Auckland skyline and harbour
From the ferry going to Waiheke amazing!
Being on this flight, we crossed the international date line, this meant that we lost the 30th of March which I'm sure was a boring day, so if i missed any of your birthdays that were on that day, I actually have a valid reason.
We arrived in New Zealand at 5:15am on March the 31st. It was the first time I have been in New Zealand for just over 11 years. It was weird thinking how long ago it was when me and the family last came. I have spent the last 11 years saying "I'm going back to New Zealand"...and now that I'm here, it feels weird and amazing at the same time.
It took us quite a while to get through security as they are huge on not bringing food into the country here. I had two apples in my bag for most of the plane journey and got rid of them, but the sniffer dog picked up on my bag and I had to empty it out for security and they had to check everything - it was rather fun....at least it wasn't a drugs dog!
We got the
Sky Tower
View from the bottom of the Sky tower shuttle bus to our accommodation in Auckland which was called 'Aspen House', either a bad hotel or a good hostel, we haven't decided yet. We were tired and we just wanted to sleep for a bit, but reception couldn't find our key, so we had to wait an hour for management to turn up and let us into our room. We let ourselves in and saw a big double bed....we rushed back to reception very quickly to complain and explain that we were just traveling together and nothing else! We finally got into OUR room and both crashed out straight away catching up on sleep.
We got an hour or so sleep and both felt terrible for it, but knew it had to be done. By this time we wanted to see Auckland, so we went straight out and walked down to the harbour and the main street called Queen Street. It was a lovely day and the sun was out, so we walked to the Viaduct which is where the main marina, nice restaurants and bars are. We found a nice Irish pub where we got a nice roast lunch with some good New Zealand beer, great way
Sky Tower
View of Auckland from the tower...thats Waiheke in the distance I think to start New Zealand food and drink.
After this we went up the 'Sky tower' and saw Auckland from above. It is the tallest building in the southern hemisphere, so it was great to get the views of greater Auckland. It seemed quite small though compared to The empire state building and the CN tower. Auckland is a nice city but not amazing, it just doesn't seem to have much to it. I'm sure that the suburbs are a lot nicer and the small fishing towns will be beautiful.
That evening we went back to the Viaduct for a good meal and some good drink. We both had our first taste of New Zealand lamb....yummy! Very tasty. By then, we were both knackered and had to get back to get some sleep.
The next day was a Sunday, and after being disappointed by not being able to find a church nearby we were even more annoyed to find that practically everything in New Zealand closes on a Sunday. Actually this is a good thing, and I hate how everything in England is open on Sundays, but this meant that we nowhere to get food or anything.
The Viaduct
At night in the Viaduct We eventually found one restaurant that was open and both got a good lunch.
After lunch we treated ourselves and went and played indoor virtual golf. It was very impressive and of great quality. We had our own private booth and it is so accurate, we had some great fun. We actually played the links course at 'Pebble Beach' and it was fantastic. I even Par'd a few holes which was fantastic! I won that, so I had to go and by the next round haha! We got to watch some good rugby as well, the New Zea landers love their sport and have sport on all the time, so we are never short of sport. We were still tired so got an early night again.
Our last day in Auckland was spent going to visit the small island of Waiheke. It is a 40 minute ferry ride from the harbour and I remember going there when we were last here. We got to the island by the late morning and found out that we had to walk to the main village to hire some bikes, and it was sunny and hot but we enjoyed it non
Waiheke Beach
One of Waiheke's lovely long beaches that span for miles. the less.
We eventually found some bikes, but they were in terrible condition and the gears did not seem up to standard, but they were extreamly cheap and we hired them for the day. The woman warned us that the island was very hilly but we thought nothing of it and carried on. We started cycling and realised straight away how difficult this ride was going to be...these hills were huge! Apparently Waiheke is basically one big volcanic island so that is why there are so many hills, but we carried on because we wanted to do it.
We cycled hard for a long time going up and down some of the biggest hills I have ever cycled and we saw a small bay that we thought we would try and get back to later on that day. We were getting really hot and realising that we were hungry and thirsty, and we just wanted to find somewhere to get lunch. The best thing about that was that there was NOWHERE! We cycled for a few hours to a beach where we knew there was a restaurant, only to be told that they were closed for the day....nooooooooooooo!
Our little Bay
This was our lovely bay which we swam and relaxed on...the sun came right out just after i took this picture, it really was a lovely place. After spending some time taking pictures of the clear water and sandy beach we cycled back up the killer hills to find a drop of water. Half and hour or so later we finally found a pub which was actually open, so we ordered two pints of water and a good filling lunch. We both felt so much better after that, and we were reading to carry on peddling to get to our lovely little bay. Sadly after lunch we had the hardest cycling yet, and the hills seemed vertical. I can hounestly say that it is the hardest cycling I have ever done. But it was so worth it as we eventually got to our picturesque New Zealand bay. There were only a few other people on the beach and we put on our swimming shorts and ran straight into the sea. It was warm and so refreshing, I stayed in there for nearly 45 minutes. After this we just relaxed and lay in the sun for another 45 minute or so until we had to return the bikes to the shop and catch our ferry back to Auckland.
It was a rough day, and we both
Waiheke Beach
Me enjoying the beach...nice and sweaty though! found it hard but enjoyed it all the way. We were both so glad that we did it, even for the hour and a half in the bay......Waiheke we love you so!
This was the end of Auckland, and it went so quickly. Its a nice city but we were ready to move on. We were heading to a friend of the family in a small town called Orewa next. She lives 5 houses down from where we lived when we lived out here. We were both looking forward to our time there.
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