Andy Bateman

We were told if we spent more than 2 days in Auckland and you'll be bored... But no, this is our 5th day, we still haven't eaten at the harbour, climbed one of the many volcanoes or been to the park. But until we're back to fly out we're calling it a day here. We've been up the sky tower twice, shopped, shopped, shopped, watched Casino Royale, attempted to buy a car but decided against it, walked, walked and walked, had a Dominoes Pizza (2 large pizzas cost $16, about 5 quid), had a subway (again a subway here is about 2 quid), Bex got a hair cut, travelled on the Link bus 'the long way around'. Maybe we didn't get bored because this is the first time we've been able to do some of this stuff for a few months, who'd have thought we'd get excited about Starbucks.

We've loved Auckland, its a really clean, friendly, spread out city where the road signs are polite and the pedestrian crossings sound and look like computer games, where the little green man actually walks when its time to go, then gives you a count down until the lights will change. The buses have screens just like in Total Recall, which show the news, weather, trivia (New Zealands favourite flavour is Chocolate, closely followed by Banana) and a map that shows you where you are, where the next stop is, and what your likely to see when you get off.

We're staying in Auckland Central Backpackers, the biggest hostel we've been in with 10 floors of rooms the biggest kitchen you've ever seen! More of a hotel than hostel (but with hostel prices).
If you haven't already, you can see some photos of Auckland here

So midday we're off to get our Hire Car (a lovely nissan sunny) and drive north to Whangarei, a 3 hour drive, where we'll be walking about the treetops and playing in the waterfall