Sad goodbyes

We all flew back up to Auckland feeling pretty glum. Everyone packed up and we had some food and drinks in the hotel bar. The next morning Jenny, G&C left us to catch their plane to Singapore for a few days. We had another teary goodbye waving them off; The Pullman staff must think I am an emotional wreck!

It's an emotional rollercoaster this travelling malarkey and I have to keep reminding myself that although it is hard everyone is only a phone call or a flight away. NZ is the furthest place away from home (geographically speaking) and an amazing reunion made it easier to be away but now I feel homesick for the people we love when they all left (oh apart from Rob, because he was staying, not because we don't love him-ha!).

Rob met his friend and James and I made use of the last posh hotel for a while, enjoying the hot tub and pool. We had a late checkout so after a brief introduction to Corey we headed down the road and back to slumming it in 'Friendz' hostel, yes you read it correctly with a 'z' I mean what sort of riff raff establishment can't even spell correctly. I know, I know I am full of it after living 6 weeks of luxury. The hostel was actually nice and at a reasonable price for a good location. However, we didn't want to hang around the rooms for too long so we went for a bite to eat and then booked up a bowling lane for the early evening. Elle and Math joined us for the bowling and we all had hilarious nicknames because we are soooo funny. It was a great few hours well spent. Math was a secret bowling maverick (although James won the last game!) after claiming he was terrible at bowling. I got my best ever score of 101 and came third in the last game, mainly because Rob and Corey got bored of actual bowling and just tried to get the fastest bowl! We went for a cheeky drink at an Irish bar and ended up eating steak there for a very reasonable price. We were a bit merry so found another very quiet bar where Elle went back to her roots and ordered and Iron Bru with vodka! We all teased her but she took it well although she did start handing out strikes to everyone.