Blogs from Auckland, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 331

After two months apart, Pat arrived at Auckland at 7:45 in the morning on Jan 10th. We bought a car the next day, a Subaru station wagon from a British couple returning home after a year of working and travelling here. The cars are in very good condition here compared to cars of similar vintage back home. The mileage tends to be less as you have not nearly as far to drive to reach the ocean in any direction, and people tend not to commute great distances for work. There are lots of inexpensive Japanese cars, brought into the country as used vehicles with very low mileage. Ours has more than 150 K but runs like a top. It is a 4-wheel drive which only means we paid more for the mechanic's assessment before purchasing the ... read more

Before you laugh, we were drunk and it seemed like a good idea. One of the guys that is staying at the hostel, is here from England to play cricket in Wellington and to help increase the popularity of the sport, he thought he would teacher a Canadian, a few Germans and an American how to play. I got to bat first and anyone who has seem me play golf, baseball or anything that involves hand eye coordination can predict that it took about two throws before the bowler( that's the guy who throws the ball!) was able to knock the wickets over (those where the sticks I was supposed to be protecting). I tried throwing my fat ass in front of the tennis ball, but was told that in a real cricket game the ball ... read more

Well after Queenstown I've opted for a bit of a slower pace in Auckland. For a City that has two thirds of NZ population the place does not seem that busy. Preston or Blackpool seems to have more traffice than this place. That said it's still a nice place to visit and over looks the harbour. This is where you see why the place has the nickname 'City of Sails' everywhere you look there are boats ranging from small sail boats to massive yachts such as the ones that compete in the Americas Cup. On my first full day in Auckland I have a bit of a wonder round to get my bearings. I head to the martime muesem, which is intresting as it tells all about the history of the early Maori settlers and later ... read more

Well I thought i would make a page dedicated to everyone back at home. Something for everyone to look back on and all the wonderfull memories that I have shared with everyone back at home ( new Zealand) I am having a blast travelling and I am glad that I have done so, meeting lots of new and great people on the way. Some of whom remind me of close ones back at home. This is only half of the crazy stuff that we all got up to all year round. This is one of the things i am missing the most. So for those of you who are part of all this , Enjoy and for those who have never been to New Zealand ... well this is just a little taste of it. To ... read more

Just noticed Rob hasn't written anything for a while so I get to do an entry for once! Flight from Singapore was good - met nice camp steward called Craig who kept calling me sweetie! Food was good, wine was good - they kept wandering up and down the aisles with a selection and giving top ups. Watched Just like Heaven or whatever its called, quite a good movie if not fairly predicatble.. Landed in Auckland bought midday and illegally smuggled in some milky bar butttons. They are tight on 'bioprotection' here and u are meant to declare all food u have with u. They even xray all bags at customs! Stayed in Auckland overnight in very posh hotel (crowne plaza) with sony widescreen TV and bar area in room. The breakfast was also fab. there ... read more