Thursday 25th February

I woke up at 5am very excited to be going to the airport for my flight to Auckland, New Zealand. Six nights in Gilligans hostel had well and truly been more than enough. I hugged Lisa goodbye and made my way downstairs for the shuttle bus. A phone call to my mum and dad on the bus nearly left me in tears with delight that I was soon to be arriving in a new country and would not long be back with Nick.

The 5 hour flight was easy, I had three seats to myself so rested well and as I landed into Auckland I had a huge smile on my face seeing the landscape out of the window and thinking about how it will feel when I jump out of the plane to that view on the sky dive I had booked. After I landed, I ended up buying a New Zealand SIM card as I was so lost with where to go and nowhere had the option to connect wifi for me to check my emails on how to get to the hotel. Once my Spark pay as you go SIM was sorted, I managed to call the hotel (Ibis Budget) and work out which shuttle bus (the yellow one) to get on. The bus was $6 each way, I bought my ticket and the hotel was just around the corner from the airport.

I threw my things in my room and had a quick lie down whilst watching an episode of Friends before deciding to go find some food. It was really strange that I had a real sense of freedom as I crossed the roads in the late evening New Zealand sun. I was very aware I was in this country on my own and I took a few deep breaths and just stood taking it all in. I felt like it had been a while since I'd been on my own, being constantly surrounded by people or living in dorms and I just felt a sense of relief. I had a naughty KFC for dinner then retreated back to the hotel, watched the Kiwi's version of our 'Long Lost Family' Tv programme which was sad and then tried my hardest despite excitement for the morning and the 3 hours ahead time difference making it difficult.

xxx