Hey everyone

Today we explored Auckland!

We woke up really late as we were so tired from the flights the day before, and after 12 hours of sleep and a lazy morning, eventually ventured out to have a walk around Auckland. It seemed like a nice place, though we were still getting used to wearing hoodies and socks and shoes. We didn't get up to anything very exciting, and once we got to the harbour headed back through Parnell, the posh end of town, so we could go into the Kiwi Experience office and sort out our bus passes.

We asked lots of questions to get a better understanding of how the pass works and how to get the most out of our time in New Zealand. Our pass takes us around both the north and south islands, and its aimed primarily at the young backpackers, unlike the Greyhound coach service in Australia. This makes the trip a whole lot more fun and friendly, as often everyone stays at each stop for the same amount of time (usually one night) including the bus driver (who doubles as a tour guide), and everyone heads off together the next day to the next stop. Also, there are mini stop-offs throughout the day in between the main towns, like to go explore a beautiful beach or waterfall that's located in the middle of nowhere. All in all, we were looking forward to seeing what our Kiwi Experience would be like.

We walked back to the hostel through the Domain, though we didn't really see much of it as we were getting tired and just wanted to get back to our beds. We were still recovering from the grueling day of flights so had another early night. Xxx