We arrived into Auckland at about 0500 so hung about the airport for a few hours had a few coffees and a McDonalds breakfast. We were both really excited to be in NZ after so much hype, we're also anxious that it lives up to our expectations. It was so nice going to the information desk at Auckalnd Airport and being able to ask a question in English and understand the answer ! We also kept saying Gracias, Quento Es ? etc etc. We got a shuttle bus to our hostal which was located in rather solubrious suburb of Parnell, beautiful houses, fantastic looking restaurants and shops. We were about a 30 minute walk to the city centre so decided to try and beat the jet lag by ignoring the tiredness and go exploring. We walked down to the harbour which is obviously undergoing a lot of develop[ment, loads of swanky flats, coffee shops and restaurants overlook the marina. We then decided to go up the sky tower as it would help familarise ourselves with the cities geopgraphy. The sky tower is the tallest building in the Southern hemisphere and dwarfs all the other buildings in Auckland. Typical of NZ you can bunjee jump off the top and various other equally scary looking things. It was hard enough standing on the glass panels at the top, although they claim there as strong as the concrete, it doesnt feel that great looking straight down a couple of hundred feet between your toes ! We then decided to go and have a look at a backpackers car market as we'd decided to buy a car or camper to get us around. There were various cars and campers there, but one caught our eye. It was a 1987 Toyota (of course) Masterace 'Surf', almost 300.000Ks, 2.0l auto in white. It had a double bed, curtains all round, cooker, pots & pans, loads of storage and drove really well. I was unsure because it was basically the first one we'd seen. So we went to another place, only to find similar things for double the money. So we went back to the first place and after a bit of haggling became the proud owners of 'Kia Ora' (hello in Maori- Sams idea). So what started out as a walk to shake off the jet lag ended up in us buying a camper !. It does mean that we can explore everywhere at our own speed, stop wherever we like the look of, beaches, forests, be in control of our own destiny. We spent the next couple of days checking out Auckland, buying supplies for Kia Ora and cleaning her. Practically straight away NZ has totally lived up to our expectations, imagine these scenarios in England; -Your in say London or Manchester and you get on a bus, you ask the bus driver a question and not only do they answer you, but they then ask you all about what your doing, where your going and let you know where to get off. -Your looking in the window of a really expensive antique watch dealers with scruffy travellers clothes on, the owner comes out and beckons you in, tells you all about the watches and chats with you for over half an hour about watches, life, jobs etc, etc. -Imagine being in a cafe looking at a map deciding where to go, then gradually everyone in the place gets up and starts offering bits of advice on places to see and things to do, everyone from Grandma's and Grandad's to big burly builders. It is so refreshing how freindly people are here, it makes you feel really included and welcomed in their country. I know weve only seen a tiny part of country and I'm sure there are the bad areas as with most other places, but so far it has been amazing and weve only really seen Auckland ! Our first job is in Taupaki about an hour North West of Auckland so we loaded up Kia Ora and set off. Just twenty minutes out of Auckland and were driving through the most beautiful rural scenery, huge tropical plants, great views of gorgeous sandy bays. We stopped at a few places and took it all in, we found a campsite which had thermal pools attched and stayed there the night, they were great but a little too hot, after ten minutes we started feeling a little faint !. We then made our way to Taupaki where our job on the Horse farm was to begin !.