Auckland (New Zealand)

Part Two – New Zealand road trip (North and South)

Tuesday 09 January

Unfortunately we had a poor night’s sleep (next to nothing), up at 5.30am, early breakfast and checked out and into a taxi to the airport before 8am. So pleased to be away from that dreadful hotel and Sydney in general, we so won’t be back! Fought our way through the busy airport (oh to be back in the chilled out domestic airports of Australia and not in international!) and boarded our flight to Auckland where they are two hours ahead of us, so just a slight time difference.

We landed circa 3.30pm NZ time and not only was our driver waiting for us (after a long wait in the queue to get through the bio-chemical

checks) but so was Dan’s lovely niece Nicola! What a lovely surprise. Got a good feeling about New Zealand and despite being bone tired, we really perked up arriving into Auckland. We checked into the central Scenic Hotel Auckland which seems ideal for our stay and headed to the bar after unpacking some things, again!! Few drinks and a lovely freshly made chicken pesto pasta supper and bed, sleep please!! Nice to be here NZ!

Wednesday 10 January

Another terrible night sleep wise. Oh dear. Our bed has been made up with about four layers of quilts, sheets and bedspreads, on top of the mattress and beneath the bottom sheet, and it is akin to rolling around in a lumpy ship every time you move in it! Most bizarre. Have to get that stripped back.

Went to breakfast then made our way out walking towards the harbour taking in the sights and sounds of Auckland CBD. Stopped for a couple of drinks and checked out some cruises then came back to the hotel to eat. Lazy day, mainly as I am so tired, but both feeling so much more spirited and excited about this next leg of the trip. We loved the most part of Australia, just had a rotten last week or so, but now we are here and ready to explore!

Thursday 11 January

I just cannot seem to sleep at the moment (this is the third sleepless night in a row) so I am feeling completely shattered unfortunately. I did not even leave the room today, napping on and off, sinuses blaring and feeling generally pretty ugh. Dan went out later and had a few drinks and brought some food back to the room and that was about the summary of the day. Fast forward please, let’s get out of this rut and liven up both the trip and the blog else before our readers all log off in despair!

Friday 12 January

Now that’s better – a healthy night’s sleep at last! Had a nice breakfast and a quietish morning as we are being picked up this afternoon by Sylvia (Nicola and Kerry’s mum) to go over to eat at Nicola and Robbie’s house so that should be good. Went out to buy some wine to take with us and bits for the fridge then came back to get ready.

Sylvia duly arrived to collect us and we headed out to their part of Auckland, near to the airport. Arrived at their lovely bungalow, met the kids Jacob and Ethan (last time we saw Jacob he was about 18 months old I think!). And the lovely Baxter, their gorgeous dog who is in fact half-Maltese! Robbie’s sister and niece also arrived and we sat outside drinking wine and eating the great food that Robbie barbequed for us. Heaven. They gave us a lift back to the hotel at the end of the evening and it had all been great fun. Such lovely people.

Saturday 13 January

We got up and made breakfast in our room today, in the little kitchenette. Scrambled eggs, ham and wholemeal toast, lovely. We left the hotel around lunchtime and went down to the harbour to catch the ferry over to Devonport and join the local bus tour with Graham, our driver. Quite a few other tourists on the bus including an outspoken Aussie guy from Brisbane who jeered loudly and relentlessly down the bus about the Ashes result. Inevitable but still a pain. Luckily most people on the bus just ignored him so it all fell on deaf ears (and Danny didn’t have to be restrained!!!).

Devonport was a really quaint place, pretty small and ideal really for retirees in our view though the locals tell us it is just another suburb of Auckland and people live there and commute into the city for work. Interesting tour as the place has quite a bit of history. We then waited for the ferry to go back over to the city.

Back into Auckland and we went to a sports bar called the Racing Track and had some drinks and eats (spicy pizza, curry sauce chips and chicken wings – I keep promising my body we will get back to our healthy eating regime as soon as we get home!). It has been a really good day, we are doing lots of walking on this leg of the trip - which given the food we are eating, is just as well!!

Sunday 14 January

We pottered around the hotel this morning, read the papers and repacked the cases in preparation for the forthcoming road trip. So excited now at the thought of getting out of all these major cities and hitting the road! Went back down to the harbour to meet Robbie and Nicola for drinks and had a great afternoon/evening, firstly at a tapas bar then on to Fox’s sports bar. The harbour area in Auckland is spectacular now with many hotels, restaurants, bars, and cafes. Well worth spending a day there. Thankfully Robbie gave us a lift back to the hotel after all that. Dan had a nightcap in the hotel and I settled for peppermint tea. Fear the worst for another wine head tomorrow!

Monday 15 January

This morning after breakfast we did some washing in preparation for leaving the hotel, and Auckland, tomorrow. Then we headed down to the harbour and joined the lunchtime Fullers harbour cruise, a 90 minute cruise seeing Auckland from the water, very interesting, and got some good photos. Saw a fabulous yacht in the harbour flying a Maltese flag, so inevitably sent the pics back to David and the guys back home in Malta. Small world.

We then went to an Irish bar on the harbour and had beers and salads (hooray, something on the menu that’s not deep fried!) then headed back to the hotel. Quite hot today and a pretty full day so earlyish night so we are ready to hit the road in the morning. Here we go then!