Auckland, New Year, New Zealand, January 2014

---

We landed in Auckland and it was 5:30am on the 31st December. With New Zealand being 16 hours ahead of Chile in time difference and having a 13 hour flight, we actually didn't even have a 30th December, that day just disappeared, weird! Off the plane we got through border control, grabbed our bags and headed for the luggage checking area. For some reason the sniffer dog and policeman came over to us, the officer asked us to both stand still while the dog smelt us, I was fine but the dog then sat down next to Freeman so we then got taken out of the que. A cameraman then came over and started filming us getting questioned by the officer. He asked us when we last had drugs saying it didnt matter if we'd had any but he just needed to know. Obviously we didn't have any drugs but telling him we had just come from South America was not helping our cause. He finally decided we were alright and we managed to avoid receiving an anal cavity search, phew! Finally through more x ray machines we made it out, asked someone which bus to get to our hostel and the guy was really helpful and told us everything we needed. It was amazing to finally be able to speak English and understand what people are saying to you after 2 months in South America where most of them don't know English. We got the bus to the harbour and it was only a 2 minute walk to our hostel. We checked in and the woman told us there had been a change to our booking, so we're thinking oh no it's New Year's Eve they are going to tell us they have double booked so we don't have a room... However, she said she had upgraded us for free from our 12 bed dorm to a 2 bed private room with en suite, buzzing! We dropped our bags and went out for a McDonalds breakfast which was so good. After eating we walked down to the ferry port, sat on some laid back chairs and I ended up falling to sleep in the sun. Freeman woke me up to get going and we popped into this random building that had loads of games in it. We played life size snakes and ladders (legendary childhood game) and the dice was the size of a shopping basket. It was a good laugh, I won by one square and then we walked right along the harbour to take a look at the harbour bridge. We walked back to the city and checked out some of the shops, they had everything, Gucci, Louis Vouton and other good shops. Obviously we r now skint backpackers so we didn't actually do any shopping! We found a cinema and bought tickets for the 5pm showing that evening. We had a few hours to kill so we both got our haircut then went back to the hostel and got in the jacuzzi on the roof, yes, an 8 man jacuzzi on the roof with amazing 360 degree views of the city, not a bad life! We showered then headed to the cinema, quickly smashing our second McDonalds of the day en route. We watched Anchorman 2 which was absolutely hilarious! After the film we went back to the hostel and were both absolutely shattered from the jet lag, however this wasn't a normal day, it was New Year's Eve and we had Absolut Vodka from duty free to drink so we ploughed through the tiredness and played cards and drinking games while we got ready. At 9:30pm we headed to the bar next to the hostel which wasn't too busy but we had a few pints, alternated between the two rooms as both had really good DJ's playing different music and then sat down and got chatting to a few people. Some lads I had spoken to in the day then also turned up as the bar started getting busy so we all drank and danced together. I looked at my watch and it was bloody 10 past 12 so we had missed the new year countdown! We asked the DJ what he was playing at and he said he didn't have a microphone so he couldn't announce it, not happy with him! To be fair both DJ's redeemed themselves with the songs they played and we all had a great night together staying in the same bar until the lights came on at 6am. I had now gone around 48 hours with only a couple of hours sleep on the plane, was stupidly jet lagged and blind drunk so I finally got in bed for some much needed sleep. Happy new year!

In the morning we both felt surprisingly alright and hardly hungover so we were up at 9:30 (I think this may also be down to the jet lag). We went to the cinema to use their free wifi while we waited for Nandos to open, yes, we found Nandos and I couldn't wait for demolish some hot peri peri chicken. The food was nice but it had nothing on the Nandos back in England. After food we went back to the room to chill as we suddenly felt tired again and I fell to sleep for a couple of hours. We had a tv in our room so we lay watching that for a bit and dragged ourselves back out to walk around the city because the rain had stopped and it was sunny again. We grabbed a subway and there was a homeless man in the street shouting abuse at most people that walked by, luckily for both him and me he kept quiet as us two walked past, lucky for him because he would have been put on his arse if he came and shouted that sort of abuse in my face and lucky for me because i don't want to be arrested for hitting a homeless person. The Police soon turned up anyway and moved him on. We nipped to the Sky Tower but didn't have enough cash on us to pay to go up so we decided to do it the next day. We had an early night that night getting into bed at 9pm as we were shattered and wanted to try and get our bodies used to the time difference.

The next morning Freeman woke me up jumping off the bed, I looked at my phone and it was only 8am. I decided not to go back to sleep so we nipped to the supermarket and bought some milk and cereal for a cheap breakfast. Back at the hostel Vicky messaged me saying her cruise ship had arrived in Auckland but she couldn't get the day off work. However, I walked down to have a look at the ship anyway and the plan was for her to come out on the deck and wave, which she didn't actually do because she got stuck in work. The ship was absolutely huge and looked amazing so I got some good pictures before heading back and cooking lunch at the hostel. I had rice and chilli beans to keep it cheap because I could already tell New Zealand was going to be very expensive. After lunch we walked to the Sky Tower, paid the $28 and hopped in the glass lift up to the 51st floor, which had a glass floor and walls. Even though we were told that the glass floor was as strong as the concrete ones it was still hard to stand on the glass and let go of the railing! You could see people doing the sky tower jump which was strange watching bodies fly past the window. We then got the lift up to the 60th floor which is the highest and has incredible 360 degree views of the whole city. After a quick drink on the 50th floor we got the lift back down and walked to Albert Park which was really smart and the weather was amazing. Back at the hostel they were giving away free hot dogs so I had a couple of them whilst writing my diary sat up on the rooftop in the sun. That evening I wanted to watch the sunset but Freeman didn't so I had some me time and strolled down the waterfront listening to my music. It was really nice to be on my own so I could fully take in this beautiful city and watch the sky change colour with the city lights slowly taking over. I sat on the steps by the water for around an hour just thinking about how good my travels had been so far, reminding myself that this really is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I also thought about all my friends and family back home and how much I miss them and that I hope they are all safe when I get back. With my travels being so intense it's rare that I've had this opportunity to sort of sit back and realise how lucky I am to be out here and that all the hard work to save for the trip was worth every penny. Feeling good about life I walked back to the hostel and Freeman was already asleep so I got another early night too.

We got up early, packed our bags and headed to the bus pick up point as a gamble because the bus was fully booked but we were on stand by in case anyone didn't show up. There were 5 spare seats but 6 of us were on the waiting list so one of us couldn't get on. I explained that me and Freeman were travelling together so one of us couldn't be that person to drop out so she let us on, happy days and relief that we got on as I didn't fancy having to do that every morning. We had made it and it was time to start our Kiwi Experience!

---