On our way back down to Auckland we stopped off on the way at North Harbour rugby stadium for the first super 14 rugby game of the season between the blues and the hurricanes (Auckland v Wellington)! We had really good seats and the atmosphere was amazing as the hurricanes beat the blues in their first game at home!
We headed to Erics apartment in the city centre where we all went for dinner and ice cream to catch up! After our food had settled we then headed to the local outdoor swimming pool where shelly was shocked to discover, after jumping in mouth open and eyes wide, that the pool was infact salt water! A really cool way to spend out first evening in Auckland.
The next day was a sad one as we had to say goodbye to our beloved campervan. After spending hours re-packing our bags we then all headed to the west coast beach and sand dunes to have some fun in the sun! Rich and Eric scrambled up the biggest sand dune in sight and Eric showed off with some flips and cartwheels which ended in a bit of a tumble. However Rich stole the award for tumble of the day as he managed to army roll down the entire sand dune on all fours!! After a dip in the black sand lake where Eric scared himself of thoughts of shopping trollies and eels, we all followed our rumbling tummies to the nearest dominos pizza! The next day we went to see the sights in the city centre and caught the glass cladded elevator up the highest building in the southern hemisphere! Rich thought the elevator was bad but was soon to discover the glass floors looking down to the tiny streets below! After a coffee at altitude, and seeing some people throw themselves off the building (sky jumping) we headed back to Eric to make some pancakes for pancake day! As per tradition the first batch was a total shambles with Rich and Hannah deciding we needed 4 eggs creating a gloopy floury mess! However the next bactch were a success and after we'd polished off 3 each we walked it off on our way to a bar in town for some leaving drinks.
We said our farewells to Eric and NZ the next morning as we headed across the pacific to Chile!