So we've been taking it pretty easy the last few days as its been quite hot but really humid so feels a lot worse than it actually is. Christine's taken us on a tour of the local area, taking in the sights of Half Moon Bay, One Tree Hill (this dormant volcano which once had one tree on but doesn't anymore! but has fantastic views of the city and suburbs), Whitford and the Eastern Beaches such as Bucklands Beach. We also visited the historic village of Howick (ha ha there's more history in Morley) but it was actually quite sweet wondering around the shops and having a $10 lunch (bargain!). Oh and not forgetting Prenzel's shop for the free tastings.

Yesterday we got the ferry from Half Moon Bay into the City. The boat ride over was lovely. When we got to the City we went to Aoetea Square Market, this was pretty gay really (like all the markets in Auckland) it had a few nice things but every stall was exactly the same selling the same beads or paua shell necklaces so got a bit repetitive. And it was so bloody hot was a bit annoying! Then Chrissie dragged us in some department store that was just horrendous for god knows how long (just like you mum!) so to get our revenge we took her in every cheesy souvenier shop on Queen street (which is a very very long street ha ha but she loved it).

Then last night we ventured into Howick for a meal. However we went to get Dave from the pub and had one drink then rang a taxi to take us into town. An hour later we were still waiting so by the time we finally managed to get into town it was ten o'clock and apparently New Zealand is a little backwards and you can't get any food anywhere after 9:30 ish! We trawled the streets for about half an hour desperately looking for food and luckily managed to find one restaurant still serving a limited menu, but actually it was lovely and a good choice so can't complain.