Kia Ora!

Thursday:
We arrived in Auckland after a quick one and a bit hour flight with Air NZ. Matt (aka Kiwi; one of Kie's friends from Bugbrooke RFC who returned to NZ a couple of years ago) came and picked us up from the airport and we left our bags with him while we made our own way into the city for the day by train. We started off in Onehunga, where Kiwi works, and had a look around the malls and shops. We were both very well behaved in Dress Smart - a massive mall with discount designer shops, despite liking lots of clothes! We dragged ourselves away after some much needed lunch and went to the train station where we walked straight onto a train heading for the city centre.

When we arrived in the city we mooched around to find our bearings before deciding to go to the Skytower; a 328m tower which is the tallest structure in NZ and offers panoramic views of Auckland. There were two different viewing platforms to the Skytower; the first allows you to see the city through telescopes with information on each tourist attraction. The second viewing platform was called the 'Skydeck' where you could walk along the glass floors which we both did happily, while others cowered at the thought!
It was late afternoon by the time we made our way to New Lynn where Kiwi met us off the train and took us to our home for the week! There, we were met by Tash and the kids, Keira and Ethan! We spent the rest of the evening catching up and exchanging stories over a few drinks before heading to bed!

Friday:
After a great nights' sleep we got up and ready for a day of sightseeing! We decided to go to Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World where we were able to use yet more discount vouchers for entry - well, we are travellers! We were surprised by the size of the place and particularly enjoyed seeing the King and Gentoo penguins on a small snowcat which took us around the 'Antarctic', as well as the giant stingrays which we saw being fed!
We arrived home in time to go and watch Matt and Tash take part in their Touch League Tournament - which they won! We spent the evening with their team, having a few celebratory drinks and chatting about anything and everything!

Saturday:
We were lucky enough to arrive in Auckland on the weekend of Pasifika Festival; a Pacific Islands-themed festival which is held every year in Auckland and is the largest festival of its type in the world. We got to see the traditional dress and performances of Samoa, Tonga, Cook Islands, Niue, Tahiti, Tokelau, Tuvalu, Kiribati and New Zealand. There were also hundreds of stalls where you could buy handmade goods, jewellery and traditional food. It was a great day, made even better by the marvellous sunshine! After a good few hours we all began to get overheated and decided to head home to cool down!

Later that night the time had come to grace Eden Park with our presence while Tash stayed at home with Keira and Ethan. We were supporting the Warriors who were playing Parramatta Eels, an Australian team who won the game 18-24. Although the game started off slow, the second half was much more interesting. The atmosphere was great and one of the best bits of the night turned out to be the Mexican wave which lapped the stadium three times before the Warriors scored! We returned home late with Burger King in hand and went to bed after an awesome day.

Sunday:
After a fully packed schedule since arriving in Auckland, we decided to chill out for the day and Sophie enjoyed the sunshine in the garden while Kie caught up with some rugby on TV. Kiwi, Tash and the kids disappeared for the morning where they came home with a big package - a new fridge! Kie and Kiwi carried the fridge up and into the house while Sophie and Tash watched! Kiwi cooked us a lovely BBQ and we heard from Pyke, Kiwi's stepdad, who offered to take us around for the day on Monday.

Monday :
We didn't really know what to expect but had heard great things about Pyke so we were looking forward to meeting him! He picked us up at 9.30am ready for a day of Auckland sightseeing. Our first stop was Hunua where we saw a huge waterfall and were very impressed with the picnic Pyke pulled out - crab baguettes, bananas, oreo biscuits, water and coke! We sat on a picnic table in front of the fall and enjoyed another beautiful day. We headed back to the car, expecting our sightseeing day to be finished and were happy to hear the day was not over! We headed all over Auckland, first crossing the Harbour Bridge to North Shore where we went through Devonport and arrived on top of Mt Victoria, the highest volcano on North Shore, where we could see Rangitoto Island just across the water. We then crossed again to the Mission Bay area where we drove along the coast and arrived at Michael J Savage Memorial Park where Michael J Savage, the first Labour Prime Minister of New Zealand and highly iconic figure, is buried.

Tuesday:
We decided to explore the area we'd been staying a little more and headed into New Lynn. We ended up at the shopping mall and mooched around for a bit. Kie treated himself to a haircut before we headed back to chill out.

Wednesday:
Our final full day in New Lynn before heading to Hamilton had arrived. We decided to spend the day in the city, heading to Auckland Museum. We got on the bus and sat with many other tourists with the intention of getting off at the museum. We never made it! We missed our stop, along with the other tourists on the bus and as it was late on in the day we decided to head for some lunch before heading back to New Lynn. We will have to do Auckland Museum when we return! Oops!

Kiwi was playing for another touch team tonight so we all went to watch him before we came back to chill in front of the TV and finished the evening by packing, ready for our departure on Thursday!

Thursday:
Today we are heading to Hamilton to visit Lappin for a couple of days but we are returning to Auckland for the day on Saturday, with Lappin, as we don't want to miss out on Polyfest! We catch the bus from Britomart, Auckland at 5pm where Lappin will meet us the other end!

We'll update you on the rest of our goings on soon enough! The photos are still giving us a bit of trouble so we will just continue with the blogs for the moment! Sorry!

We hope you're all well, not long until we see you all again!

Lots of love, Sophie and Kie xx