Day 95

Today was Als 25th Birthday. Al wanted to enjoy a lie in which worked out perfectly for the beginning of Lorna's surprises. Once out of bed he was presented with scrambled eggs on toast with sausages - which is a major treat compared to economy muesli.

Once we had breakfast Lorna surprised Al with a origami card that included pictures of family and friends along with birthday messages. Al had thought that he was going to miss out on birthday cards from everyone back home, so it was really nice to receive this.

We then headed in Auckland CBD where we looked around and tried to find somewhere to eat for dinner. We decided on the Sky Tower. At 12 o'clock Al was allowed his next surprise from Lorna, this was some money. Al had decided to put this money from Lorna, the money from Helen and Chris and the remaining from Carl together and purchased a new camera.

Al wanted to play with his new camera so Lorna used the opportunity to go and sort out another surprise. After taking about 100 photos we headed back to get ready for our night out.

Once back at the hostel Lorna went downstairs and came back to the room with a birthday chocolate mud cake complete with candles and was singing 'Happy Birthday'.

We caught the bus into Auckland CBD and headed to the Sky Tower half an hour early so we could visit the observation deck for a view of the city at night. After this we headed up to the restaurant.

As we headed towards our table Al was greeted by his final surprise; when Lorna had disappeared early today she had arranged for the restaurant to decorate our table with balloons, confetti and a card. The surprise on Als face was priceless.

The restaurant kindly layed on complimentary oysters as an entree and a card. Once Lorna had tried her 1st and 2nd oysters ever we got stuck into the seafood buffet. There was everything seafood lovers like us could have dreamed of, so we really got stuck in.

The desserts were also equally as delicious, so much so that we had all 8 of them from the dessert table. The waiter commented that he had never seen anyone eat so much, unfortunately they didn't give us a certificate, ha ha.