My final stop in New Zealand was Auckland, a big city much like any other. I was glad I only had a couple of days here as there's not really that much to do. I went to a couple of the weekend markets, wandered through some of the city parks, including the Domain (Auckland and New Zealand's oldest park), felt very poor in the more swanky districts of Ponsonby and Parnell as by this stage I only had enough money left to window shop and climbed up Mount Eden for a 360 degree panoramic view of the city. From up here you can see many of the volcanos Auckland is famous for. The city itself was built in the middle of many of them, all now dormant of course, but which now provide great vantage points for viewing the city, and are a great workout for the legs!

But other than that Auckland was just another city. New Zealand is much more about the life outside the three major cities than the cities themselves. Snow capped mountains, aqua blue rivers and lakes, rolling hills and of course the sheep and deer, are the lasting memories I'll have of this beautiful country (as well as insanely jumping out of a plane at 12,000ft!). Not sure it's somewhere I'd come back to...unless of course I was combining it with another visit to Australia!