Bye Bye Oz, Hello New Zealand

Hi everyone - after a long period away from the blog I am back in action! I had a fantastic Christmas and New Year with Mum and Dad visiting Sydney, Melbourne and hot hot Ayers Rock, and was sad to part ways as they left for home in January while I continued my adventures to New Zealand.

Fresh from the airport, I met Kate and Laura - friends I met back in Malaysia in September. They had done all the hard work in finding an apartment for us to stay in the centre of Auckland, so all I had to do was move in! We had a three month lease in a lovely two-bedroom place in the city with views of the harbour and the sunset - perfect. Had a relaxed first week settling in, finding my way round the city, and visited the museum - highly recommended although little bit daunting to learn that there could be a volcano eruption in Auckland at any time...

Next stop - the job centre! Armed with my working holiday visa, I signed up with NZ Job Search, and in a week had a trial session at the Waterfront restaurant - chilled out managers, great food and right on the tip of the harbour. The next five weeks were spent getting back to my waitressing roots - not what I thought I'd be doing in NZ but ideal for the short term and for the casual hours, so I could spend time in and around Auckland with Kate & Laura's friends - cheeky Loughborough lads Rob and Harry, Steve and his girlfriend Nancy and our Kiwi friend Vinni. It was great talking to all the customers at the restaurant who came from all parts of the world and were interested in hearing about my travels - and a discount on their food and drink for me and my friends made it worth it too!

Throughout January and February we got well and truly settled into City Life - nights out in Auckland (making the most of my restaurant food & drink discount!), many nights in with DVDs and pizza, visits to Parnell's outdoor saltwater pools to top up the tan, and shopping at St Luke's, Sylvia Park, New Lynn and Henderson malls.

We went to Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World - a little bit tacky and let's say not really that many fish! But we made our own fun on the travelator and chuckled at the kids who got splashed at stingray feeding time. We went to Parnell's chocolate shop - and wow I'm still dreaming of the 'Chocolate Pot' - melted chocolate served to you in a teapot and shot glass.

We had fish and chips on Takapuna beach and bathed in the hot pools at Waiwera (not mentioning any cuts and scrapes I got from the water slides). We also had a day trip on the ferry to the lovely Waiheke Island, and were determined to ignore the clouds and ran into the sea to avoid the spots of rain!

As you can imagine, the weeks flew by and all too soon it was March and we had to start clearing up the apartment and get ready to become backpackers again - a daunting thought indeed! Looking forward to seeing the South Island but not so much living out of bags and having flip flop showers in hostels!

Next stop.. road trip up to the Bay of Islands and then setting off on the Kiwi Bus down south...

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