In spite of the dreadful typhoon weather in Hong Kong all day yesterday we took off on time and even managed to arrive a little early in Auckland which was quite an achievement.

We were met by our friend, Mike who took us back to his place for lunch. Mike and Gay have a fantastic place about 45 minutes drive north of Auckland. They have built a beautiful house on a 5 acre plot in Coatesville. They grow all their own vegetables and a wide variety of fruit and keep chickens as well for a plentiful supply of fresh eggs - quite a change from when they were living in Hong Kong!

After a great lunch in which we were lucky enough to taste some of that delicious home produce Mike drove us back into the city where we were able to check into our hotel, The Sky City Grand, which is right opposite the Sky City Tower. An impressive looking place! Amanda wished she wasn't shuffling in wearing her track pants and comfy old travel T shirt!!

Early evening we had a wander round the area and took in the lively cosmopolitan atmosphere before settling down to watch South Africa play Samoa. It was a real shame to see Samoa go down and we felt that they should have ended up with more points on the board to reflect the effort they put in.