7th January 2011

Phew, am I glad to be off that plane!

Aunty Tina picked me up from Auckland Airport where I gave her a very sweaty, smelly hug. Note to self - take a change of clothes when on a long haul flight! We had to keep the windows open for the whole drive down - whoops!

On the drive, we stopped in a little town called Tirau where most of the shops are made of corrugated iron and shaped like animals. We went into a sheep and asked if there were toilets. "Not here," said the woman behind the counter, "but there are some in the dog".

This made me chuckle.

So, we went into the dog and I found someone I know from Guernsey! Turns out he works there - what are the chances?!

We drove down to Feilding, Manawatu and the scenery during the journey was breathtaking. From volcanic ground where nothing grows to hills, forests, lakes and mountains. The roads were quiet and the drive took about 6 and a half hours.

The first thing I did when we got home was to go for a shower - my god it felt good! Also felt nice to get out of my jeans as it was far too hot - 31 degrees yesterday. I managed to sleep for about 9 hours last night which I was very grateful for as from Monday - Thursday I had only had about 10 hours in total so, needless to say, I needed it.

Today we went into Feilding town centre which is a lovely little place. I bought some flip flops and a NZ sim card to keep in touch with everybody. I also found some Uncle Ben's microwave rice in tomato and basil flavour which made me stupidly excited as i've never seen it in Guernsey....simple things eh! We also went to the travel agents to get some brochures on bus tours and there are a couple which look very good at a reasonable price so I just have to read the booklets and decide what I want to do.

Did you know that they don't have 1, 2 or 5 cent coins here? They round everything up which is weird. Like, if something cost $1.21 then you would only pay $1.20 and if it cost $1.27 then you would pay $1.30. It's very strange.

On another note, I have my first ever coldsore :o( Why did I have to come to NZ and get a scabby face?

Tomorrow we are going to visit Aunty Tina's friend Liz at the beach and may camp there overnight.

More updates soon

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