We decided to be big kids today and headed to Rainbow's End, Auckland's theme park. It was an overcast day but still quite warm out and a bit humid. Since it was a weekday the park wasn't as busy so we rarely had to wait in any lines which was great! We went on the pirate ship ride, then went on two different kinds of go-karts which was a ton of fun! No crashing either! So proud of myself for that. Haha. We went to a ride in goldrush town which is cool, you walk through this underground mine then you get into an old mining car and it's a rollercoaster that takes you through a mine haha. Sooo much fun! They also have a log ride but they call it a log flume which I ... read more

Pete wanted to take me to MOTAT today which stands for the Museum of transport and technology. It reminded me a bit of Heritage park. There are a few old buildings and cottages that have been moved to the site. An school house as well. Some old fire trucks and the first tram cars in NZ. Lots of neat little exhibits on kiwi life. They have an old tram car that still runs and takes you past the zoo to the other part of MOTAT where the airplanes are kept. So we rode that over and checked out the planes. It was a really fun day and because it was Auckland Day we got in for half price. Later in the evening they had fireworks over the harbour to celebrate Auckland day which was really cool. ... read more

After a slight delay with my plane I finally arrived in Auckland. A bit of confusion at the airport but I finally found Pete and we drove to the hostel. Mom was outside when we pulled up and it was great to see her and get a Mom hug. She already had the key to my room so I threw my stuff in and found dad. Great to get a dad hug too. After a quick change Pete drove us down to the skytower. We showed mom and dad around the casino and they we were allowed to go up to the skydeck to have a look around. They have glass floors up there to stand on. A bit freaky but I did it, my legs were shaking though! We took the elevator up a bit ... read more

Leahanne and I hopped into the car and headed out of Melbourne city to the seaside town of Portsea. We drove all along beach road which is right on the coast of Morington Peninsula. Amazing views the whole way down. We drove up to a place called Arthur's seat for a view down along the coast. AMAZING! We were 200 and some meters up. We continued on down to Portsea. We stopped for lunch at the Portsea pub. We sat outside overlooking the coast. Had an amazing lunch and then we stopped at a place called Sorrento beach. Beautiful beach but the waves were pretty big. We stopped in Frankston on the way back to the city to see leahanne's friends Anita and George. They have 4 young kids under the age of 6, 3 girls ... read more

We arrived into Adelaide at 7:30am. After getting our bags we found the skybus which would take us into the city. We were told to make sure that our train was going the next day due to the Victoria floods. So we ran inside and checked and the train would be running as far as they knew. The rail tracks are elevated above the water at the moment. So we headed into the city and Catriona and I were already booked into the same hostel so that was awesome. We put our bags in storage as the room wasn't ready yet and along with another girl from the train who was also staying at the YHA we walked into town. Adelaide is a really pretty city. The tallest building is 34 stories. There are no skyscrapers ... read more