Hello from Auckland!

We've made it! Just thought we'd quickly check in to let people know that we've arrived safely. The journey was nowhere near as bad as expected, Air New Zealand were fab, and our first view of New Zealand was pretty incredible. After seeing the most amazing red sunrise, somewhere over Australia, we were then treated to a spectacular view of the west coast of Northland, above Auckland, with its beautiful wild beaches and coves, then the volcanic hills and Auckland itself - stunning (or sweet as, as the New Zealanders would say!).

We're staying in Auckland Central Backpackers for a few nights, which seems better than first expected. Whilst lying ever so slightly comatose on our beds yesterday after checking in, we were visited by a sweet little thing who invited us to a foam party in the bar that night. After debating for some considerable time over whether to forfeit our early night in favour of the party, we eventually decided against it, but all is not lost, tonight we can join in with the bikini competition ($500 for the best bikini-clad body!!) or Saturday perhaps we may fancy the naughty schoolgirl night - who knows? Thankfully we are on the 9th floor which is so quiet we can't believe our luck - we need a few early nights to recover!

And today we've started to get really excited as we've just had our orientation meeting with the people here who organise the work exchange, which included a virtual tour of NZ with so much information on where we can visit and what we can do, we're overwhelmed with excitement. NZ is so desperate for fruit pickers right now that if we do 3 months fruit picking, we can have an extra 3 months on our visa!!

So now we're going to chill for a couple of days - sort out the exciting stuff like bank accounts, tax numbers and mobile phones, then explore a little of Auckland. There's loads going on at the moment in terms of free music events, the Pasifika Festival and lots of gorgeous countryside and beaches nearby, so we're going to relax, enjoy the scenery and entertainment and start planning where to go first.

Ok, gotta go and try on our bikinis! See you soon, Jo & Su xxx