The Sky's The Limit...

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Well its blog time again, the last blog ended when we woke up at midnight and started planning our first proper day in New Zealand, i am going to continue now with how those plans went, so here goes.

When i had woken up it had turned out that Elliott had been up during the night with some stomach problems, fortunately i had slept through it all. I also slept through the whistling noise the window had been making due to some pretty crappy seals on the frames, but its ok Elliott had taken care of that too, with some sort of weird elastoplaster based lining system to stop the wind from getting in...it kind of worked but not really. We both decided that we should also make an entry in our video diaries about what had happened so far and what we were planning to do that day (ala long way round). This video consisted of what time it was, Elliotts handy work and also a mention of how i banged my head on the wall (of which there is no video or photo evidence, so technically it didn't happen). We close by saying bye to you all and then I discover that we can plug the cameras into the television so we watch the tapes back to see how they are looking (FYI mine is better).

By now i am pretty hungry but as there is no restaurant in the hotel i have to make do with salt and vinegar crisps and double chocolate biscuits, oh and some coca cola to keep me bouncing off the walls. I then have a random urge to shave my balding head so i grab the shaver and commence cutting, Elliott grabs the camera at this point and decides to film this apparent momentus event (weirdo) i can't help but think the tapes are gonna look more gay than we want them too.

We were up for about 4 hours planning and chatting before we decided that maybe we should try and get some sleep before the strenuous day ahead of us, so i sit in bed and start reading my book. Elliott dozes off before me and starts lightly snoring, i feel i should throw something at him but decide he'll make more noise when he is awake so i leave him be. I decide to go to sleep at around half 4 or something and i sleep soundly.

The alarm goes off at half 7 and we quickly shower and gather our things and leave the hotel to start our day. The first port of call is the internet cafe but we then remember that we want to book the skywalk first. We tell the cashier in the internet cafe that we will be right back and then off we trot. Unfortunately the skywalk centre doesn't open til 10 so we go back up the escalator and see the Rebo cafe in the lobby, we check out the menu and decide to sit and order the continental breakfast. I have the light and tasty cereal while Elliott has the weet-bix (legally obliged to make the distinction) we also get toasted French sticks, a bowl of fruit and some weird cream stuff in another little bowl, we aren't sure what it is but because they had supplied us with a spoon AND knife so we assumed that it was for the toast, i wasn't willing to try so Elliott smeared a big blob on his slice took a huge bite and declared that it was in fact...yoghurt. Hilarious. I munch down my fruit with my fingers, Elliott says i show true British eating habits by doing this, but i didn't hear him as i was busy eating fruit with my fingers.

We left the cafe and booked our skywalk for 4:30 giving us enough time to return from Rangitoto Island. We then headed down the street towards the harbour. On the way we stop into a shop that Elliott had noticed a hat he wanted. He tries several on and they are all too small for his massive ego inflated head (ha). On the way out the door Elliott notices a fire suit and points it out to me and is genuinely surprised when i decline buying it. We got to Pier 2 at around 9ish and book our tickets for the ferry crossing to Rangitoto Island at 12:15, once that is taken care of we return to the top of the city to our starting point, the internet cafe, a good hour or more after telling the cashier we would be right back (oops). Elliott commences updating the blog while i talk to Mark online he tells us about the fun he had saturday night (i am not willing to divulge the information as it is yuck!)

We then leave at 11:15 and start back towards the harbour, quickly stopping into a convenience store for supplies, more crisps and chocolate biscuits but this time water instead of cola. Its a little early when we arrive at Pier 2 so we sit in the waiting area until our ferry is called out ready for boarding. The trip takes 25 minutes and the views are incredible, we take lots of photos of the skyline where u can distinctly see the skytower that we plan to walk later and various islands that were dotted around the bay. One in particular caught Elliotts eye and because of its tropical look he named it 'Tracey Island' it, of course isn't actually called that but i humoured him and left it at that.

Soon Rangitoto Island appears in the distance and it looks incredible and a little like something out of Jurassic Park or King Kong (we did check before leaving that there were no dinosaurs or massive monkeys living on the island) We get off the boat and our first little stroll is through Kowhai Grove, Elliott records the whole thing as we pass the grove without realising it, turns out they aren't in season so we missed them. We then come to a T section and turn left towards Flax point. The landscape is pretty barren but yet there is a lot of vegetation for somewhere where you wouldn't expect it. We get to Flax point quite quickly but the track ends there so we turn back and head in the opposite direction. Elliott spots another pathway called Kidney Fern Glen, we walked through some pretty thick bush (no laughing) with all sorts of weird noises going on and somehow missed the glen and found ourselves at the end with a sign pointing behind us saying 'Kidney Fern Glen'. In case you can't tell we are really bad at this exploring thing. We did try and reach the summit but due to time constraints and the fear of being left behind on the island with all these dinosaurs and giant monkeys (i didn't believe the info) we headed back to the wharf to board the ferry home.

All the way back to Auckland i could see the skytower looming over the city and i started to get butterflies in my stomach, what the hell was i thinking agreeing to walk around the top of it with just a seatbelt on and a 1 metre wide platform to stop me from plummeting to the ground. By now we are really running out of time and need to make it to the tower by 4:15 so we powerwalk all the way up to the vistor centre and are seated waiting for our guide to come and gear us up.

Right, now i am all about safety but my god those harnesses hurt in unmentionable places and they make you walk like you have hemroids. We are also supplied with a hair net, warm hats and gloves as it is probably bloody cold up there. We board the lift and it zooms up to the top a whole 192 metres above us and we take our first steps onto the platform. It's not as bad as i was expecting i wasn't scared at all, Elliott however was crying like a baby (ok that part wasn't true but i bet he wanted too). I look down and the perspective is really strange it looks like the tower is leaning the wrong way, i point this out to Elliott who thanks me but is clearly not impressed with my statement. Sela (our guide by the way) attaches the harnesses to us and opens the gate to the 1 metre platform i mentioned earlier and the first thing she has us do is lean over the edge, this i am not so impressed with and the curses from Elliott showed he felt the same way (but we do it and probably better than anyone else ever). Next is the first of our photos, i go first as i am in front. This time she has me sit over the edge, she is bloody mental, but again i do it and i have my photo taken. Elliott goes second and he, the same as me, has to sit over the edge and have his photo taken, he takes it in his stride and completes the task at hand (we are such legends).

I then make something of an idiot of myself, while we are walking round Sela is talking about various parts of Auckland and what we can see, she mentions the 'North Shore' to which i think she says 'Lost Shore' i proceeded to point out 'The Lost Shore? No it isn't, its there, i can see it, i found it for you' what a prat. Fortunately she found it hilarious and of course i knew what she said really i just wanted to break the ice *cough cough*. We then have a group photo (its just me and Elliott on this walk) and then we watch a guy doing the skyjump which is basically falling from the top to the floor with a rope on your back (now thats freaking mental). Sela then opens the last gate and we are back on solid ground again, we make it down the elevator and get changed and fill in a feedback form while waiting for our photos (they are on a CD but this interent cafe has no drives so we can't load them up yet but we shall certainly try in the near future as it shows how brave and cool we are) After collecting the photos we are given free passes to the observation deck, which we use and we get some nice night time shots of Auckland from 188 metres up.

Our last stop before returning to the hotel is to a little Italian restaurant 'la Porchetta' just down the road from the tower, i treat myself to a ham and pineapple pizza and Elliott has a margherita. It is nice and we are well fed as we return to the hotel room. We spend the next few hours updating our journals and packing ready for the next morning (collecting the motorhome woohoo!) We finally get to bed around 9:30 and quickly doze off.

Well that was our first proper day of activities and it was very exhausting too. We hope you enjoy reading about it as much as we did actually doing it. From me and Elliott goodbye for now and we hope to update again soon. (after we get the motorhome the internet cafes become scarce, but feel free to text us as it won't cost us to recieve them) Byeeeeeee.

Jason & Elliott

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Comments

[Emy]

wow!
OMG sooo wish i was there, im scared of heights but that all sounded amazing!! hows yog on toast then elliott? lmao! miss you :)

[Claire]

Where be the hobbits?
These entries are far too long to read, can you do a bullet point summary of each day? I look at all the pictures though, have not spotted any creatures of middle earth yet. Hope you remembered to pack your Star Wars tshirt. xx