Wahey! Landed in Auckland after a little stopover in Sydney. Going East for the first time and we've both got a little bit jet-lagged Zzzzzzz! Staying in West Auckland with friends who are impressed at the amount of sleep we are getting.

Chilled out in a funky part of town called Devonport and been up and down loads of little hills (or volcanic cones as they should be called - Auckland has got 57 or something of them). Just a couple of miles out of town we visted a huge Gannet colony at Murawei Beach and then off down to Parakai to the geothermally heated pools - "Would Madam prefer the 30'C outdoor pool or the 40'C indoor pool?" We melted!

Yesterday we did a tour of the Waitakere mountains, followed by a normal bit of Kym and Jon wine tasting and then had our first taste of Kiwi Heath & Safety at a Bonfire night - holy crap I'm amazed will both still have all the eyes, fingers and limbs we started out with!!

Off south on Monday to Rotorua and the steaming mudpits etc - cannot wait!