Journey VERY long but both arrived remarkably well at 3-00am local time after about 30 hours travelling. Could have gone out clubbin' ! !

Next day nice & sunny. Did a lot of walking to wear off jet lag & visited Auckland harbour & museum. Saw lots of maori stuff + highlight for Stewart a Spitfire fighter plane. Walking worked for Stewart - could have gone out clubbin' fri eve - but not for Vod who was "un peu fatiguée" - so we stayedin & had a takeaway pizza.

Nextday overcast so we took a ferry to Rangitoto Island in the harbour bay. An extinct volcano which has all the original native island trees & plants - unlike the mainland where it's been cleared for timber/farming or imported species have taken over. Climbed up the Volcano and walked around the rim. Very similar to the volcanos we saw in the canaries, especially Lanzarote except that the vegetation has grown back more as it errupted 200 years earlier than the ones on Lanzarote.

Then went shopping. First most essential item - guitar for Stewart, just to tide me over until April ! Then bought 2 bikes - the shop will buy them back after 3 months for 30-40% of what we paid depending on condition so we get nice new mountain bikes for hardly more than the cost of hiring.

Auckland is the biggest city in the country & 25% of the population lives there - felt like a village to us. It must be VERY empty when we get out into the boonies