Today Olivia and I felt a little worse for wear after the night before (particularly oli!) so we spent most of the day just chilling out and tidying for Marilyn and Russell coming back (and Rob had to go to swap the car for one that worked)! When they got back we had a lovely time just all chatting together, with Russell making a lovely Beef Stroganoff for dinner and Marilyn a gorgeous apple pie. We'd missed home cooked food! After Olivia and I sat and planned ...

Today the three of us had a lazy start to be day, then went over to the West Coast over from Auckland. It was gorgeous, a really pretty drive. The walk Oli wanted us to do was closed, so instead she took us to Bethell's beach, a black sand beach. On the way we stopped and went on a walk over to a stream which was pretty, then over to the beach for sunset. It was lovely. Afterwards we went back to Auckland to get dinner then get ready for our night out! First we ...

Today we went back to the Chinese embassy to get our visas sorted, which ended up taking up most of the day - three hours waiting to get seen in the morning, then another two that afternoon to collect it. We were glad to have it sorted though. We then went back to Marilyn and Russell's where Olivia was going to meet us for me and her to go out. It was really raining so we decided to postpone that and stayed in with some treats chatting until late - it was so nic...

Today Rob and I made our way over to the Chinese embassy to sort it for the next leg of our trip, which ended up being a wild goose chase as they needed loads of stuff from us, it was ridiculous! As the embassy closed at lunch we deferred it until the next day and went back to Marilyn and Russell's to sort out our washing and do some planning. When olivia had finished work we went to meet her and Tali at a place called Cakes and Ladders, a cool cafe where you co...

We set off early for our flight to Auckland to see Olivia!!! I was so so excited!!! After what felt like ages our flight landed and I pretty much dragged Rob through security and customs to arrivals - and there she was!!! There was a massive crowd there waiting for the Lions rugby team to arrive who must have thought we were crazy! We didn't want to get caught up in the Lions rush so after getting our rental car Olivia took us to a shopping centre for lunch. Sh...