Third and final time time in Auckland but this time I was solo! Bridie and Becki dropped me off at the airport where I thought I had plenty of time to spare. I checked in to be told we would be boarding the plan in 20 minutes. I was sat in the waiting room just people watching when i saw a young lad of a different origin fiddle about with his bag then walk off. Me being me my head started to do over drive and I started clock watching waiting for a bomb to go off. Luckily he was just stupid leaving his bag unattended and there were no bombs.

I boarded the flight and I was sat competently on my own, no one in front, behind or either side of me. As it was a late flight most people were asleep but I was way too excited to sleep as I was on my way to see Sally. Instead I completed my first ever Sudoku, I would have taken a picture of this to prove to Becki but I didn't have my camera. The flight was fine and I soon landed safety. As I was only going for a few day I took a small rucksack which mainly had noodles. Sally met me at the airport but this time with no sign but still just as many hugs and smiles to go around. We jumped in her car and went home to catch up on the last month or so. We ended up staying up for hours just sharing stories, talking about the old times and planning our few days together. With our catch up complete and our eyes tired we headed to bed.

The next morning we had a late rise as we both caught up on some much needed sleep. We ate porridge for breakfast which was yummy and it reminded me of home. Our plan for today was to do some clothes and food shopping, catch the 'Last song' at the cinema and then go and see a few of Sallys friends. I was doing really well on my own but before we left I realised I had left me inhaler in Christchurch. Now I haven't had an attack and I had my main one but I get really freaked out if I don't have all of them with me (I am sure asthma is all physiological anyway.) Sally was really nice and we went to church to ask if anyone had a spare but no one did so we tried to buy one but I wasn't allowed as I wasn't Kiwi so I just drank black coffee. Funny story though I had only recently found out that black coffee helps with asthma as it was in an action film.

We did a few shopping jobs and I found a cute bikini which I brought and then headed to the cinema. The film had Miley Cyrus in which is the actress who played Hannah Montana which every child I taught in schools found it funny to say to me if I was her!!! The film was based on a Nicolas Sparks book called the Last Song, although it started off ever so cheesy it got better towards the end. By the time we were half way through there wasn't a dry eye in the cinema (well apart from heartless me!) After the film we headed home to cook up a feast. After eating we both had a sudden rush of energy and we drove to her friends house but everyone had gone to bed... but the fresh air got to us. We started acting more like 13 year olds than 23 year! We first abused a traffic cone, then I drove Sallys car and we headed straight towards the children's play park. We climbed on all of the equipment and took lots of stupid pictures but it was like the old time just chilling out on Heather View road playing on the rec. After our childish antics we went home and crashed out.

We woke up much earlier this time and like true British we put the kettle on and planned our day. Sadly we knew that it would probably be a good year until we saw each other again and we had both sent each other paintings in the past we decided to spend the morning painting. We both took a while to know what we were going to do and and then we set to work. I have to say now if you have seen the master pieces on Facebook Sally is actually an artist and her house if full of beautiful art work she has created herself and I draw like a child! Our paintings took a while to complete and was mostly done in silence as the concentration was intense. Somehow I managed to get paint all over my jumper and pjs so Sally did her wonders and cleaned me all up.

As time was getting the better of us we put down our paint brushes and headed to …......nope, no idea of the name but it was a large grassy hill which was on the edge of Auckland and you could see for miles. Sally was very kinda and took all the touristy pictures for me, but the view wasn't what we had come for, it was hill sliding! Good old Aucklanders sticking true to their roots of making everything fun. They had turn an old army base into a cardboard holder for the public to select their choice of vehicles (cardboard) and choose their run (which part of the hill you would go down). I got super excited and offered to go first, I sat on my cardboard and pushed myself off, I zoomed down the hill, falling off half way and tumbling the rest. Sally jumped but her fall was a little more spectacular and she manged to grave her legs and ankles. We did about 8-10 runs until we realised we were too old and we were dead. We decided to save our last bit of energy we had to go for a small walk around the top and then jump in our car home. Before we went home we took a little detour to "the slums" of Auckland as I always like to see a city from every aspect. Auckland isn't New Zealands capital but it does hold a third of the whole population of both island in turn come the poverty. Auckland was the only place that had human dangers in the Dangers and Annoyances in the Lonely Planet. Saying that for a big city we only saw a few street people who were mainly singing or doing something for money, I can only remember one or two actual beggers. I think we saw two Moari people homeless in our whole time there which I think is fairly good. We drove around what were know as the slums to find only one house that looked totally run down, a few house could do with a lick of paint but that was about all. I do believe that each house holds a high number of people in a small space but all in all it was a lot nicer than some of England's poor places.

Feeling pleased I had seen the true Auckland we headed home to grab my stuff and some food and head to the airport. On the way Sally's break cable snapped in her car so we had to use the handbrake to slow us down. Although Auckland is a big city the roads are huge and there still is a lot of space so people are spread out meaning their traffic jams last up to 5 minuets on a bad day, so we were all right. Sally and I said our last good byes and gave each other our farewell hugs and went our separate ways.

My flight was fine coming back and I met the girls in no time. I had enjoyed my time with Sally and was really sad to say good bye but in less than twelve hours I would be back at the airport again heading to Fiji for our last traveling stop!