There are 4.1 million people in NZ, 1.3 million of whom live in Auckland. There are 40 million sheep. We saw a lot of those sheep today. Yesterday you may remember me mentioning that we awoke to the melodious sound of a fire alarm? Well, all was forgiven when one of the firemen was a hunky Tom Hanks lookalike. We woke up and popped 'round the corner for some milk before breakfasting. Then we went for an exciting wander and saw many strange things, posing for photos beside most of them. We passed a hippy playing a guitar and a man who smelled strongly of meths. We also saw some of the city. :) I think I might have fallen in love with Auckland, it really is a lovely place. They've got the whole 'combining the elements earth, fire, air and water' thing going on with random statues and parks adding to that effect. It's a nice effect. I like it. We visited the SkyTower too (the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere!) but by 'visited' I mean looked up at it from below. It's big. When we first left the hotel there were large crowds in the street. 'Hmmm' we thought as we wondered through the crowd. 'Let's ask someone'. The first reply we got we didn't believe - we thought they were taking the piss. When this story was collaborated by another completely unrelated party we had no choice but to accept the truth of the matter. There was a parade (about to start!) called 'Boobs on Bikes'. It was something to do with an Erotica convention where International pornstars ride through the city topless and on motorbikes. Fun. A pleasant birthday surprise. Apparently the mayor's trying to stop it so people went out in force to support this annual do. In the evening we went out for a meal then trudged absolutely knackered (at around 19.45) back to the hostel. I went to the loo and when I returned to the room it was dark. Dun dun duuuuuun! 'Oh no!' I thought, 'They've left me!', but no! A headlight comes on and tuneful singing rips through the air like a chainsaw through jelly. Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you... A great way to end the day, if I do say so myself. Today we were on a bus by 8am. This would be a good day. We had booked a tour which included free lunch and transport to our hostel and we were the only ones on the minibus! We had a breakfast of cheese and ham sandwiches and cake. On our way to Waitomo we took a detour down Buckland Road to visit... Hobbiton!! W00t!!!! We saw the Shire, had lunch and fed some sheep. We went into Bag End and danced next to the Party Tree. Then back on the bus. We stopped off at a Kiwi farm (where you could buy shower gel for bums and willies. No joke, they both had poems on the back - the bum one went along the lines of if you're playing rugby and have a scram you don't want anyone to complain about your smell. You don't want to know what the willy poem was about...) We made one last stop at the bank before arriving at the Kiwipaka Hostel in Waitomo - a tiny village with a school, 2 pubs, 3 caving companies and 2 glowworm caves and almost nothing else. Tomorrow morning we had the option to go to the Shearing Shed and watch a rabbit being sheared but instead we're going to go Black Water Rafting through the glowworm caves! A must do for this area. We'll be cutting it close though cos we're catching a bus to Rotorua at 12.30. Missing you already but really having a fabulous time. Thanks for all the messages!!!!