Hello All,

Sorry this entry has taken a while to appear but have tried and failed a number of times due to crap internet and dodgy electricity supplies....Here goes..

We drove in to Auckland after leaving Mark and Heather in Roturoa in the morning. After some map reading problems and the essential ´getting lost and having an argument´ episode we found the depot where we had to pack up and leave Roger, our beloved campervan. A sad moment. The lady (quite a character) who were to look after him from then on gave us a lift to the airport where we caught a bus into the centre.  We had arranged to meet up with Michelle (she rescued us from a lonely Christmas surrounded by drunken English 18 year olds in Byron Bay and now came to our aid again) who had very generously offered to put us up for the weekend.  Michelle came to pick us up and took us to her lovely house. She lives in a very cosy 1-bed cottage on the east coast 3 mins from a long, flat golden sand beach! We grabbed a bottle of wine and headed straight down to the sea. That evening we had a few more glasses, Michelle cooked us a nice dinner and we sat around chatting.  She´s a real early bird and made sure we were up early the next morning. We went to the local coffee shop (they´re well into their coffees in NZ and do great lattes) just off the beach and saw a friend of Michelle´s.  In the afternoon we went to a drive to the west coast, circling up and down a mountain road before arriving at the beach. This coast looked completely different, with the mountain surrounding the bay and a rugged coastline with a few vegetated islands scattered a little way out to sea. The sand was also black here due to the volcanic deposits. The water was quite choppy here and there were surfers but the current was very strong and wanted to pull you sideways and then out to sea. We braved it anyway and went for a swim (pretty cold) and then lay about in the sun. Then we went for a walk up a small island that used to be a Maori fortress.  In the evening we went to a nice Greek restaurant where Michelle had been before and was quite chummy with the owner. We had nice food and wine and later on Niccos joined us for a chat. Turned out he had lived in northern Sweden for a year and had some funny stories to tell. He was as sold on NZ as Michelle is and they both tried to convince us that we should move there. After all the wine we weren´t that far from promising we´d see them again in a few months time on a more permanent basis…. Michelle had to go to work on the Sun morning so we were without guide for a few hours. She had drawn us a little map of the area where she lives so we could go for a walk and check it out but naturally we got lost. Not for too long though and we had a nice time looking around the cute little suburb before hitting the beach.  Michelle came back in the afternoon and we stayed in feeling a little sore from the night before (managed some more wine tho!). She cooked us dinner again and we listened to some pop classics (!) chatted and had a great time.  It was bank holiday on the Mon so Michelle offered to take us to the airport. First we went to a lookout point where you can see all over the city and then to the centre of Auckland. We went to the marina, had lunch in the sunshine whilst watching the yachts and the crowds going past. Really pretty place.  Said our Good Bye´s and Thank You´s at the airport but really hope we get to see Michelle again in the not too distant future. We had such a lovely time in Auckland and it certainly wouldn´t have been the same without her. Not to mention the generosity and welcome she showed us even though we´d only known each other a few days! Cheers Darl´ ! If you´re ever around our part of the world we´d love to repay the favour.