DAY 1 Hello everyone Well the journey from basingstoke to auckland only took 40 hours. The flight to sydney actually went really well, i even managed a bit of sleep, dispite having some kid watching films all night laughing out loud and shouting to his mum, cause he still had the bloody headphones on. I managed to see loads of films, well actually i only saw 1 film all the way through. but i did catch the first 10 minutes of about 6 films before falling asleep. anyway, hong kong airport was dull, no cheesy watches to buy so i was a little disappointed. Arrived in sydney feeling fairly fresh amazingly, i now had a 7 hour wait until my flight to auckland. at this moment i have no idea whether auckland is in the north island or south??? nothing to do for 7 hours, but they did have free internet which would be great if the thing worked. now everything had gone smooth until now. i checked in with quantas for my flight to auckland and get told that they cannot board me on this plane as i currently have no means of returning to sydney (i hadn't booked a flight back yet) and also that my visa was due to expire at midnight. what a cockup. so off i went to buy an overpriced ticket from the quantas sales desk, the visa i can sort when im in NZ. anyway back to the checkin desk, spent the next half hour with the checkin girl trying to sort everything out, but at least she gave me seats with extra legroom. cheers penny. i was beginning to struggle to stay awake now, flight didnt take too long only 2 and a half hours, i found out on the way that auckland is on the north island. anyway i made the most of the free booze policy as always. got a taxi to the base backpakers hostel that i had prerpaid, go to check in to find that my booking exists but the have no record of payment. so i have to pay again. what can go wrong next, i am half expecting to catch the tour bus to find my booking doesnt exist. lets hope everythjings cool. anyway of to my room for a well deserved shower and some sleep before my tour at 8am tomorrow.