We arrived shaking into Auckland, having become unaccustomed to anything more than B roads it felt like we were driving into central London. After checking in to our student halls (and my have they come a long way since the Macmillan Halls in Bradford- ensuite and a separate lounge!) we went to the Skytower to look over the city and at a crazy man jumping off the top. We tried to get into the casino but were turned away because of my flip flops. I think it was an excuse-we just look skint!

We went to the Chinese Lantern Festival in the park to celebrate Chinese New Year, had some yummy satayish sticks of unidentifiable meat from the street stalls and went to bed happy in the knowledge we were flying out to south pacific paradise ina day or too....or so we thought....