Auckland

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On arriving in our 6th 'round the world' country, we had the luxury of being met at Auckland Airport by Laura's aunt and uncle, Bernadette and Pete, who we stayed with for the first part of our New Zealand adventure.

During the week, we really loved getting to know Bernadette and Pete; Rebecca, Jo and Nic (Laura's cousins); and Yasmine, Henry, Caitlin and Gabriella (Laura's cousin's children), as well as being wonderfuly looked after by them all!

Having lived in Auckland for around 35 years, Bernadette and Pete were first-class tour guides and took us to the summit of Mount Eden (one of Auckland's 48 volcanoes) for a fab view of the city, suburbs and harbours. Auckland also has some beautiful beaches and we spent time walking and swimming at Takapuna, Mission Bay and Milford. The weather in Auckland was fantastic, which came as a bit of a surprise having begun to fear the worst after listening to too many lame Aussies saying how cold NZ is. But we now realise that most Aussies would put a woolly jumper on as soon as the temperature drops below 20 degrees!

Bernadette with Caitlin (behind), Jo with Gabriella (front), and Yasmine and Henry bouncing!and spent the best part of a day at Auckland Museum, which included a really interesting Maori Cultural Performance. Laura was too embarassed to have her photo taken with a real life Maori Warrior, even though she secretly wanted to!

Had a really good night out with our great mate Amy and her sister Zoe, who found a fab Indian BYO restautant in the City. Top rate food brought back memories of Malaysia, and it didn't matter at all to us that we were the only people in the restaurant all night. (Good luck with your new job Amy in Windy Welly! Looking forward to catching up again in a few weeks).

Pete and Nic also took us out for a night, although this time we went to 'The Trots' (horse racing with little cart things!) for some gambling action! We got off to a good start and won a few bucks on the first race, which made us feel more confident that choosing a horse by it's name rather than the odds was the way to go! Although by race 9, we weren't too sure that it was the best thinking after all.

Our first week in NZ was a brilliant start to our time here, and we'll keep your posted on our adventures round the rest of the country on 'The Magic Bus'......

(Pete, we hope you had a fantastic 70th birthday at the weekend and we look forward to seeing you all again in a few weeks time.)

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Photos

Laura and Family
With the city skyline behind (obviously).

Kiwi Family Fun
Bernadette with Caitlin (behind), Jo with Gabriella (front), and Yasmine and Henry bouncing!

The Trots
High-speed, debt-inducing, camera-blurring, Kiwi fun!

Milford Beach
The Giant's Chair!

Auckland Museum
Maori cultural performance - would be better on video than photo!