After being in Auckland for nearly 3 weeks we thought it was about time to venture into the city and go up the Sky Tower. Managed to get discounted backpacker prices and so decided to get the lift up to the observation deck and then pay the little   extra to go that bit higher up to the sky deck. After a 15,000 feet skydive, a bungy jump, a giant swing, climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge and numerous long haul flights, Ben was still nervous! Once we got...

A nice lie in as the bus didn?t pick us up till 11am. The journey to Auckland doesn?t take that long from Rotorua but we stopped in Mata Mata along the way. Mata Mata is also known as ?Hobbiton? as this is the place where they filmed all the Shire scenes for the Lord of the Rings. We got to Auckland at 3.30pm and Margaret (Bens Auntie) picked us up from the bus with her daughter Helene. On the way back to Margaret?s we stopped at Helene?s house and met her sons, ...