We arrived in Auckland around lunchtime - our last stop in NZ. I really cannot believe it. Time flies as they say! The thing that made us realise how long we had been away today was the fact that we saw a poster advertising the DVD release of James Bond - a film that was released in the cinemas after we left!!!!

Anyway, back to Auckland. We checked into our hostel, grabbed some lunch and walked to the i-site (this is becoming a regular occurance here in NZ!) We bought tickets to the sky tower and went up. The views are amazing and apparently there are over 40 volcanoes (many or all of them extinct) in the area. But apparently to the un-trained eye you can probably see a maximum of 20. Whilst sitting there enjoying the views I saw a person plummeting to the ground....which made me jump! Sitting watching it even made my legs wobble but luckily they were fully harnessed in doing a 'skyjump' off the skytower - basically just a controlled bungee jump. Whilst up there I saw another jumper and they got stuck at the level of the windows which was disconcerting but the guy didn't look too bothered before accelerating really fast downwards! I got a good photos, so I shall endevour to upload the North Island photos in the next couple of days.

For dinner we couldn't be bothered to cook so we went on a hunt of a cheap place to eat - only to end up in a fast food joint. But a cut above McDonalds which made me feel a bit better - more of a Gourmet Burger!!! Then on the way back Sam and I spotted an Ice Cream place which had some delicious flavours so we couldn't resist! Now back in the hostel getting up to date on the blogs...not quite believing that it is only one week until we meet Lisa (my cousin) in LA for the last 10 days of the trip!!!! argh!!!!

Yesterday we walked up Mt Eden (caught as bus there), one of the volcanoes in Auckland which is now covered in grass. The views are amazing from there and the height is the same if not very similar to that of the sky tower. We walked back down and we waited around a few shops at the bottom for a while before being picked up by 'Bob' who Sam has been in contact with. The boys, Sam especially have been keen frisbee golf players here in NZ, particularly in Queenstown, and Sam has been in contact with Bob who runs a website on the sport and is NZ's No. 4 player!!! He picked us up and took us to a park where we were met by 3 of his friends Nigel, Nigel and Marty. They were all really good and put the boys to shame slightly, although it has to be said they were not far behind on some of the shots. Karl lost his disc on the first throw....it landed somewhere in a massive bush and after wasting 15 or so minutes looking for it we gave up. One of the Nigels left after the first 9 holes - but everyone else did the full 18. After finishing, Bob gave us a lift back to the city centre and we went to find some lunch. We had nothing else planned for the day so we went to the cinema and saw 'Watchmen' which at first looked really good - there was a good opening scene and the opening credits were amazing but the storyline let it down so overall it really isn't worth watching!!! After that we looked in Borders Bookshop for a while before coming back to the hostel for the evening - reading, interneting etc etc.

Today, we went on a harbour cruise which was amazing. The commentary was really informative and the weather was clear so we got a good view of Auckland's skyline and the surrounding islands. We even got to step food on Rangitoto, the largest and youngest volcano in the area. On the way back to the harbour in Auckland we passed under the bridge and saw someone do a bungee, though we think this was a member of staff doing it for the benefit of the boat!!!! Once back on dry land we walked around the harbour for a while then made our way up to the Auckland Museum via bus. We spent a couple of hours in there looking at the different areas - they had some really interesting stuff on volcanoes, WWI and WWII and dinosaurs etc etc - the usual museum kind of thing. We walked back to the city centre after that and got a bite to eat before going back to the hostel where we relaxed for an hour or two. We have just been out again for some dinner and to walk the streets of Auckland for the last time before heading off to Fiji tomorrow!!!!

I'm not sure if I will have access to the internet there as we are going out to an island called 'South Sea' for 3 nights after spending one night on the main island in Nadi. I think it will be a relaxing few days so probably no more internet until I reach LA and meet up with my cousin Lisa! It is all very exciting! But it is about 2 weeks until I come home so not long until I see any of you now!!!! Keep reading! I will try and blog til the end of the trip!!! xx