Hiya everyone,

So, since our last post, we went for a 2 hour walk to Mission bay (instead of an 18 min bus ride) and typically we chose the mountainous route instead of the flat water side one!!! After that we decided to go to a bar for a well deserved cider along the beachfront. Whilst we were there, we got a phone call from our prospective employers Greg and Donna who had just got off a plane from Bali, who asked of they could come down and meet us. So we met with them in all our finery (sweaty walking clothes, NO MAKEUP!!) and discussed the job (well Donna attempted to answer every question with an irrelevant story!!!). Seems like a good opportunity and we will be going down there after we visit Shirley and Ian to have a look around and we can decide from there if it suits us.

Since then Kate has been poorly with a sore throat, so the next day we had a relaxing day in the flat and sorted our car insurance. We decided that as we had exhausted most of Auckland's free or cheap activities (and we had walked most of the city and beyond) that we would get the car one day early (thursday) so we could go out and explore the area.

So, on thursday we got on the bus and an hour later arrived at the destination feeling as sick as anything and wishing we had walked instead. So we went and got a sausage roll (the best we have ever had) after sitting down for a while to ease our stomachs and went to pick up the car. We decided to drive quite far out and visit the waterfalls in Hunua which is south of Auckland (see pictures).

Today we drove to Piha, a surf beach north west of Auckland in the middle of a regional park (basically a rainforest) we were going to go for a walk but Kate saw on a leaflet that there may be spiders to we gave that a miss and just went and had fish and chips (or fush and chups as they call them) with some tommy sauce (hehe) on the beach! (They also call sandwiches 'sammies' lol) The beach was very dramatic with rock formations and big waves and was well worth a visit but the weather wasn't great (and there wasnt anyone surfing).

Since we have been back we have attempted to pack our stuff and we are having Dominos pizza tonight - large for £3.95 :S we will let you know how it goes!!!

Goodbye Auckland and hello Northland!!!!

Lots of Love K and A xxxxxxxxxxxx