The last couple of minutes coming into Aucland were fab. the sunrise was great and at 37,000 feet the kids thought the low cloud below was ice. The cloud
broke when we got to NZ and descended. Nz looked awesome and with the vapour trail visible from the back you really got a feel for 500 mph heading south.
We landed and queued in the visitor q. We could have queued in the resident

Dad then decided to catch the 380 bus which went to Manuakau city where he sneaked off
for 20 mins and managed to open a bank account just by smiling. A rare event indeed

We then caught the bus to britomart and the kids immediately recognised the red light area
of auckland which happens to be next to the bus station.

we caught the bus up mt eden road to Pentlands backpacker hostel. The description didn't
disappoint. Lots of young people very polite and from all over the world even an argie!
We explored the veranda. The tv room and the fantastically stocked kitchen

Joe was the first to crash 3pm slept till 9am the next day. He was woken up for a shower
but he cant remember. When being put in bed after the shower . he said no way I'm I getting no shower
in a very teenagery kind of way

Mum cooked a lovely T of tortellini and we all ate it just before

Dad's car booking kept adding hidden charges like a $100 to drop it off early so he went on the internet
and booked a cheaper better one. That will teach them

We bought a busalot ticket and headed into Auckland , we just arrived and all the roads were sealed off. There was
a world cup triathlon event and it started in 10 mins. We heard the whistles and the leaders came round the corner there was 6 of them
Then positions 7 or 8 . They were coming up the hill fast and accelerating up the hill. One of them had the racing line and the other was trying to keep that line
The Belgian shouldered the Latvian along the barriers then the inevitable happened and they both crashed infront of me.
the barriers went bank several feet with the force and they were both lying in front of me. They were both bleeding and ripped to shreds. The belguim got up
and wasn't as badly injured. He had of course not landed in the barrier. He took one glance back rejoined the race.
It was a good 5 mins before the Latvian got up. His carbon fibre frame was completely shattered. I suggested it was foul play
He agreed in broken english. He got up and the last I saw was him carrying his bike back to see his coach.
The race was live on NZ TV and everyone was watching it in the bar.

we decided to go to wagamamas for tea where the waiter was from Manchester and was staying in a house just up the road from our hostel, we exchanged story's and
discussed how small the world must be.