Auckland

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Day 4

Tried unsuccessfully to get some on board sleep. Very bumpy flight at times. Arrived ahead of schedule though. Must play havoc with tour guides when the plane arrives early. Now on the other side of the World but tired from the flights. Auckland 20 degrees and light cloud on arrival but the sun burst through in mid afternoon and was, if anything, too hot. After a walk to the marina we lunched on sandwiches and then sauntered around the boats. Now bereft of skyscrapers we felt cheated in the poor tall building showing here. Can’t these people build proper ones? For a change we feasted in the evening on more western fare in an Irish pub just round the corner from our hotel. Sublime to the ridiculous. Speaking of which, our hotel room was absolutely huge. The hotel was created out of the remains of a Department store and we ended up with a separate bedroom, bathroom, lounge and kitchen with a full size freestanding cooker. The height of the room was about 15 feet. The kitchen was provided with a complete set of cutlery and utensils for 4 people. Weird. Tomorrow we should pick up the camper van then on to Coromandel. There were just a few Christmas decorations to remind us we were now in December. Although Richard was regaled with the strains of “Come Rest ye Merry Gentlemen” in a toilet in HK!

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