The Belgian guys had been staying in the Nomads Fat Camel and so we we're right outside of it when we sold the van. We thought this would be the sensible choice rather than dragging our bags all over Auckland city centre! BAD CHOICE!!

It was $24 each for an eight bed dorm. The dorms were in a little 'appartment' which was absolutely filthy! There were a few tatty sofas and there was a lot of rubbish lying around. The bedroom was tiny and had four bunkbeds squashed in. There was no where to put any of our things and it smelt like a bad mixture of sweaty boys and smelly feet. Yuk. I braved the kitchen when i went to make a cup of tea only to find that the kettle didn't work so Neil went to tell reception. He was told to knock on the door of the adjacent appartment. So we did....there was no reply. I went back downstairs and told them so he said to try the appartments on the floor above. You are having a laugh aren't you?? No. How rude. Why should i have to run around the hostel knocking on peoples doors just so i can have some hot water!! urghh! I had an idea of boiling some water in a pan but discarded that idea when i saw the crusty noodles stuck to the bottom of the pan from lunch. We went out for a coffee instead. Horrid hostel!! Later that night we spoke to Emma who we had met while we were working at the hotel. She said she would rescue us from the hostel. Hurray! The next morning we couldn't get on the train to Glen Eden quick enough!! (Yes, they do have trains in New Zealand!)

Rob and Emma live out in the bush in the suburbs of Auckland in a really gorgeous house. We spent a lovely few days with them and they're gorgeous daughter Nessa. Did lots of nice things like going to food markets and going to the beach and having coffee and quoisants by the harbour. All very civillised and not at all doing what backpackers normally do!! We were sad to leave as we were getting quite accustomed to this lifestyle! Unfortunately the hostels were waiting.

Surf and Snow Backpackers was slightly more bearable than the fat camel. We spent our last few days in Auckland sorting things out for our trip to Japan. On our last night, we went out for a meal and met up with Bari which was cool. We're gonna miss New Zealand a lot. We had had some fun times here and have met so many awsome people. Hopefully we can keep in touch with them....so....bring on Japan!

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