We arrived in Auckland at around 10am after nearly 24 hours travelling from Santiago, via Buenos Aries where ours was just about the only early morning flight that wasn't subject to a massive delay. Unfortunately our very untraveller-like 5* hotel room wasn't quite ready so we had a few hours to explore the city centre which was almost like being at home after so long in central and South America.

After an evening of recharging our batteries the next day was time to do some proper sight seeing as we visited the Auckland museum which is situated in the Auckland domain (a massive area of parkland in the centre of Auckland). That evening was a chance to sample the delights of one of Aukland's many Japanese restaurants.

Day three in Auckland was a day of celebration to mark the 23rd anniversary of my birth. In order to do this we visited Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Encounter and Underwater World where we were able to see a group of Gentoo and King Penguins, walk through a replica of Scott's Antarctic base and plunge our hands into water the same temperature of that under the Antarctic sea ice. As well as this we saw many native species of New Zealand sea life in the huge aquarium. After this it was time to head back into town to visit the ice bar then sample the culinary delights of Euro, one of Auckland's top restaurants.

Our final day in Auckland gave us beautiful (if not that warm) weather to visit One Tree Hill, the site of a Maori Pa or fortified village with brilliant views of Auckland. After a walk through the surrounding park we hopped on a bus to Auckland Zoo to check out a host of wildlife including some Kiwi's (New Zealand's national bird, not the fruit). This got us back into town just in time to head up the Auckland sky tower for sunset and a white russian.

After an action packed few days the next morning was time to meet up with our travelling companions for the forseeable future on the Kiwi Experience bus...