30th Jan - We had a good flight to Auckland, stopping off at Sydney airport on the way. We arrived in Auckland about 1am and caught a bus to our hostel which mummy Edge kindly booked for us.

When we rose the next day, we went to check out Auckland city! This was also the chance to see how expenisive/less expensive New Zealand is! We went and bought some sushi for lunch which was a bargain. Just $5 which is about £2.50. So cheap! We were so happy!!

We explored the city and took a walk to the Kiwi Experience office to sort our itinerary for New Zealand. We also checked out somewhere we could hire a bike from the next day so we could have a touristy day cycling around Auckland. Yippeeee!

Later on we headed back to the hostel where we had a healthy ham, salad and rice for dinner. We popped back to our room to figure out our route for our cycling trip the next day. An older lady who was sharing our dorm room came in and told us to read our map in another room. We later heard her moaning about people going to bed late and waking up late the next day.. Quote "you should go to bed at 10pm and then wake at sunrise'. We thought b***** this.. Let's head to the hostel bar!

This is where the best news ever happened... Drinks prices.. Omg so much cheaper than Australia!! Most drinks are $5, so £2.50. Get in!! We had a few drinks, then headed to bed.

31st Jan - We woke up in the morning all ready for our little bike ride! We made breakfast and headed down to the shop to get our bikes. We cycled along the seafront, passing marinas and beaches. It was beautiful. We rode for about 1 hour until we came to a nice beach to take a break. We carried on cycling to another beach where we stopped off and parked our bikes. We bought some fish and chips then ate them on the beach. We sunbathed for a couple of hours then headed back to the city to drop our bags off. After dropping our bags off we went to buy some sushi for dinner and get some wifi to regain contact with the world. We got a bus at 7pm up to Mt Eden to watch the sunset. Mt Eden is dubbed to be the best volcano to visit in Auckland. We trekked it up to the top and gradually watched the sunset over the hills whist I ate a punnet of strawberries. The views over Auckland were spectacular; it's amazing to these ginormous volcanos dotted around the city surrounded by residential areas. Apparently Auckland is just one massive volcano. It makes you stand back and think 'wow what if one of these erupted?' The whole city would be wiped out. After we'd watched the sunset, we walked down Mt Eden and started walking back to the hostel until a bus came along. We were nearly back when we hopped on a bus and we arrived at the bus station back in the city. Me and Hannah fancied some hot chocolate to end our perfect day, before grabbing an early night. We went to a supermarket to buy some and got to the tills. It was then when I realised I had left my purse on the bus!!! I quickly ran back to the bus station.. Praying, hoping, it would still be there. Much to my disappointment, nobody had handed my purse in :( I couldn't believe it. Such a sour way to end such a perfect day. Life can be so cruel sometimes.