Christmas Eve!!! I was so excited although it felt absolutely nothing like Christmas! Only a few shops had a little bit of tinsel up or a small Christmas tree! None of the campsites did though, not even a bit of Christmas music! This was the first year I had to keep reminding myself it was Christmas tomorrow. Oh well, it would be a different and amazing experience all the same, it's nice to do it different one year.

After breakfast and paying for our powerless stay of 18 dollars, our first stop was Pak n Save. We were stocking up for Christmas Day, something I had been super excited to do! They didn't have a Christmas turkey, we couldn't find one anywhere, so a Christmas chicken would have to do. I was attempting to cook my first Christmas dinner this year and as it was just the two of us, it felt quite easy to prepare for! The supermarket wasn't that busy surprisingly, at home I knew Tescos everywhere would be rammed with last minute shoppers!

We had a couple of hours to kill so we headed to an area called Ponsonby in Auckland, which had a young, alternative and quirky vibe to it! We walked around one of the main indoor markets which was full of unique food stalls and cafes, all selling various different gorgeous looking cuisines. It was beautifully decorated with grand Christmas decorations, the best I'd seen by a mile...Yay! We chose a cafe which happened to have the best looking cakes, and while I dived into a chocolate and cherry sponge, Matt had himself a banana milkshake.

Our next stop was the Auckland Bridge Bungy centre. Matt had booked himself in to do a 40 meter jump from the Auckland bridge today. I decided to pay the additional 20 dollars so I could go up with him and watch. Matt didn't appear nervous at all, just excited! We walked in a group of about 12 all the way across to the middle of the bridge to a special bungy pod. Matt was third to jump, I felt weirdly nervous for him although I knew he'd obviously be ok. I could tell he was very nervous just before he jumped but he did really well, and managed to even keep hold of his GoPro throughout the jump which is a challenge when your scared. He looked so chuffed once he was returned to the pod, he'd done it!

After all that excitement, we decided to finally make our way to the Air BnB apartment we had booked for Christmas. The apartment was based in Ponsonby so a great location. Inside was minimalistic, modern and clean- perfect for what we wanted! The owners Ursula and Lee had left us Champagne and chocolates, along with my mums first box full of Christmas presents. They also had a cat called Chloe that we had to feed during our stay but that was it. We unpacked the van and brought all our stuff into the flat. Almost instantly I had a load of washing on, we were desperate!

After Matt popped the champagne, we decided to sit down together and open both of the huge boxes mum had sent. I had sooo been looking forward to this! Inside were lots of gorgeous little Christmas decorations that we put up straight away, including a paper chain kit. She had also sent every kind of confectionary good you could possibly imagine including maltesers, dairy milk bars, galaxy chocolate, packets of mince pies, Bill's tins of biscuits, massive chocolate coins, Terry's chocolate oranges, bags of picknmix, cheese straws, pringles, Doritos, card games... I could go on! Basically enough to have lasted us the entire month if not more! We were like children opening it all up, we were getting so excited, it was so thoughtful of her! She had also packed two sacks full of little presents but we were under strict instructions not to open those until Christmas morning! I couldn't believe that she had actually managed to get two massive boxes to us in NZ considering we were constantly on the go. We FaceTimed her wearing the Christmas hats and glasses she sent to say a massive thank you!

That night, we sat down with a glass of champagne in one hand, and a handful of biscuits in the other and watched film after film on the TV... what a novelty for us! We felt totally relaxed, ready for our Kiwi Christmas tomorrow!