14TH - 17TH MARCH

We touched down in Auckland at 3.15 pm, we’d had a good flight and were treated to some great views over Auckland and north New Zealand. We were very much looking forward to our 10 weeks here and hoped we wouldn’t be disappointed in anyway. I’d had a few good tips off Julie of must do places and with advise from Rough Guide we’d opted not to stay in central Auckland but stay in one the suburbs called Parnell. We got a shuttle bus direct from the airport to our hostel and even though it took quite a while we did feel we got to see a good part of the city. Parnell was a lovely area, very Chorlton or Didsbury with a few really swanky shops and lots of bars and restaurants. Our hostel, City Garden Lodge was fabulous, it made such a nice change to feel welcome in a place. The hostel was in an old wooden house with an owner who looked quite similar to Billy Connolly! Our room was more like a hotel room and we instantly felt at home, we were booked in for 3 nights so we were

looking forward to our last bit of luxury before we picked up our campervan. As we’d spent most of the day sitting down on a plane we were quite eager to get out and check out the local area, and what’s more the price of things, yet another currency for Rob to get his head around! Prices seemed OK so we decided to treat ourselves and eat out rather than go to the expensive Spar type of shop to stock up on groceries. We opted for good old pizza and pasta, where would the world be without these two favourites, truly a worldwide phenomenon! The food was great and the beer prices were also favourable so we thought we’d also check out the local Irish bar, another world favourite! Unfortunately the local beer was pretty awful so we struggled through our first pint and decided to keep our brains in working order and enter the local pub quiz. Unfortunately there were a lot of local questions so we didn’t do very well, well in fact we came last but we did get a last place prize of shaker cocktail, which was