Days 100, 101 and 102

Our flight to NZ was pretty smooth and even though we had our own room at Pentlands backpackers it was still much cheaper than Sydney. We spotted a few Indians on the trip down and as we were both craving our national dish we opted to eat out....big mistake as the standard of Indian restraunts outside of UK is shocking! We got back just in time to watch the Royal wedding in the TV room which was packed! Michelle was quite excited and enjoyed the ceremony with lots of oooooohs and ahhhhhhhs. Although there was one very irritating German girl who was watching but wanted the whole room to know that she didn't really want to.

The following morning we set out to explore Auckland. As the biggest city in NZ we were surprised how small it actually was. We walked to the harbour and caught the boat across the bay to Devonport. The weather was surprisingly good and the kiwis took the chance to get out on the water with their little sailing boats. Devonport was very reminiscent of an old English seaside village, with lots of ice cream and chocolate shops. We walked to the top of Mount Victoria (more like a small hill), which offered great views over Auckland and the skytower.

We set out pretty early the next day, in order to catch the ferry across to Rangitoto island. Rangitoto is just 25 minutes off the NZ coast and is its youngest volcano! Our plan was to walk to the top of the dormant volcano (about 5-6 hours walk). The weather just about held out, and although it was cloudy we only got a few splashes of rain. It did feel like we were walking up Mount Doom at times, especially with all the black volcanic rocks on either side. The great views from the top is something that Frodo never really commented on!