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Published: October 30th 2007
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After a bit of a bumpy flight we arrived in Auckland. It's just a tad colder than Rarotonga (about 15 degrees)!
It took a while to get out of the airport as we had to declare our walking boots. After queuing for a while in biosecturity, we had to have them jetwashed with disinfectant in case they had any seeds stuck on them. This was actually pretty good as it saved us the job of cleaning them because they were really muddy. The guy who washed them for us didn't really enjoy it though but he started chatting to us about his son's computing degree. This was all very well but after 3 hours sleep and waiting to get through immigration we were pretty tired! Also by now we have discovered that to be a driver for an aiport taxi service you have to be totally insane as we took another high speed shuttle to our hostel.
We couldn't check in until the afternoon so we had a look around & grabbed some lunch. Auckland is a really nice city. It was all the shops you'd expect, and there are alot of really nice bars and places to eat.
From the top
Sky Tower shadow... This is great for us as at last we have a vegetarian alternative instead of just salad and chips! The city is really clean and has a nice atmopshere. There isn't too much traffic and alot less husstle and bustle than LA! There was lot of noise around the corner from the hostel so we investigated and found an Indian food festival. We didn't buy any though as the hostel we are staying in has free food every night. That night we tucked into some nachos with vege chilli before getting some well earned shut eye in our rather cold room.
The next day we rose nice & early then walked to the Sky tower. It's rather tall so we decided against jumping off! To be honest, at $175, the price was almost as scary! It was quite scary going up that high in a glass bottem lift anyway. We had planned on having lunch in the revolving resturant but there veggie choice was a bit limited. But as luck would have it we found a great veggie cafe in town & ate a bit too much!
That afternoon we took the bus to Auckland zoo. Although Zoo's
aren't the best places for animals, Auckland Zoo does some really good conservation work and takes part in alot of breeding programmes and there is alot of good educational information on the way around. The enclosures also give the animals alot of room and we made it in time for afternoon feeding for alot of them so got to see Giraffe's eating close up! There was a great variety of animals and tried to donate them Joe for a new exhibit but they wouldn't have him! We had a great time watching the lions & hippo's. Especially the family of ducks swimming a bit to close to the rather hefty hippo's!
On Tuesday (after dragging joe out of bed) we had to do some shopping as Kim needed a new day bag. After looking at many bags in many shops we went back to the 1st one! At least we have one now!
We then made our way to the harbour to have a wonder round and ended up jumping on a ferry to Devonport. It was only a short crossing of 12 mins but you had some fantastic views of the city along the way. Devonport is
a quiet suburb of Auckland, it reminded us of an English seaside town but clean and minus chavs! We walked to the top of the hill which is actually a volcano. We took some good pictures at the top as you could see for miles. We then decided we wanted some chips, after smelling them on the way up. So we were sat down waiting for our order when Kim realised she had left her jacket at the top of the hill! Joe then ran all the way back up to find it laying on the ground right at the top and was back just in time for the chips, well done Joe!!!
Tomorrow we have to be up bright and early as we're booked onto the Kiwi experience and are heading to the Bay of the Islands at 7.15am! So we're posting this as you're all getting into work. We've just been out for "Dunkin' Donuts" and took a photo of the Sky Tower lit up at night. We're having an early night for our trip tomorrow!
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lynsey
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fab
You guys look like you're having a FAB time, must be something else to see such amazing sights, almost daily. Talking of amazing sights, check your email later Kim. Glad you're having fun, send us a postcard?