Not so sunny Auckland

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Woke up early Sunday morning, very nervous, but equally excited. This would be the first time the four of us had flown anywhere together and with Mister 3 being unpredictable in his mood and behaviour at times (to put it mildly!), I was a tad concerned about how 3 hours on a plane would go. The car trip in to Sydney airport was uneventful, and being a Sunday morning, relatively quick, and we found our pre-booked airport parking with ease. A quick trip on an airport shuttle bus soon saw us checking in for our flights to Auckland. We managed to browse through the duty free section without the kids becoming too bored and thusly burdened with our purchases of champagne, vodka, gin and perfume, we happily boarded our Qantas flight. A pleasant flight, with breakfast and a movie (can't recall which!), and just as Oliver started to become restless, we landed safely at Auckland Airport.

I just have to say, I LOVE arriving at new airports, that is to say, airports where I have never been before. No, scrap that, in actual fact, I love any airport. I don't know why, there is just such a sense of adventure and of anything being possible when you arrive to or depart from an airport. It's fantastic.

Anyway, we were literally the last people to leave our plane and make our slow way to the baggage collection. No matter, our bags were patiently waiting for our arrival and it was a hassle free journey through customs and out to the shuttle bus area where our transfer to the hotel in Auckland was waiting.

My immediate impressions of Auckland was that is was quite cold and surprisingly grey, but also that it looked surprisingly established- many houses and their gardens looked as though they been there for some time. It felt fresh, yet , as I said established. An interesting mix. Anyway, it took a while (around 45 minutes) to reach our hotel, The Rendezvous Grand Hotel. The hotel was well situated and the room comfortable. We relaxed for half an hour, had a cup of tea and decided to brave the rain and head out in search of an early dinner. I hadn't brought a travel guide with us, (although I later remembered I had a copy of the Rough Guide on my Kindle), so we had no idea what was nearby, but the hotel concierge was helpful and with some directions to the eating precinct and some borrowed hotel umbrellas, we set out with the kids. Within a 5-10 minute walk in the freezing rain we had reached a street full of enticing looking restaurants, but we settled on the warm, comfortable looking Middle East Cafe. It was surprisingly kid friendly, with a basket of toys and a relaxed air, and we were happy to tuck into mixed plates of salad, kebabs and lebanese bread. As we left the owners gave each of the kids a pen and we purchased some Middle Eastern sweets. A place I'd happily return to for it's good food, good prices and welcoming feel. It also contained dozens and dozens of camel imagery- sadly I had left my camera at the hotel, but I did manage to get a couple of pics on my iphone.

After purchasing some potato chips and soft drink to go with our duty free gin and vodka, we headed back to the hotel, full and exhausted. The kids had a bath and dropped off to sleep in no time. A shower and one gin and tonic each saw Leigh and I fast asleep well before 9.30pm.

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