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Had an early start on Sun 5th as I took advantage of our new found cheap Skype rates to call home and have a chat with my lovely little brother and Dan took the opportunity to call his mum and wish her a happy 4th of July (as they are pretty much a day behind in Miami. After getting dressed and having breakfast we attempted to use our remaining internet time to upload pics and write up the blog but the STA website was not working properly and I refused to continue after having written a good few days worth of stuff and having it deleted! Left Paihia around half 10 in the end and after a very nothingy journey, arrived at our hostel in Mount Eden, a suburb of Auckland about 2 and a half hours later. We had decided to book ourselves into a hostel and a double room in order to clear out the Spaceship properly and make sure all was in order before returning it the following day. However, reception was closed and no one was to be found around lunch time so we headed out to the little strip of shops and cafes to get some lunch at a nice cafe with decking and patio heaters (despite the rain!) :o) Had a huge lunch of triple decker BLT with avocado for me and nachos for Dan then a choc brownie and gingerbread man! YUM. Mooched around the shops for a while, especially all the cute little book shops and restrained ourselves from spending before the rain got too much and we returned to the hostel. Explored Oaklands Lodge a bit, checked out the TV lounge and huge book swap library before finally being able to check in! Did an inordinate amount of laundry and completely cleared the Spaceship out leaving the most epic task of completely re packing our rucksacks, even resulting in a few clothing sacrifices! Read some magazines and polished off a bottle of Pinot Gris that would not fit into Dan's rucksack (what a shame) before finally paying my speeding ticket on the internet! Braved the rain around 8 for a few more drinks at a cool pub - Dan was happy to see Stella being served and I was even happier to work my way through the wine list. Finally we decided to get some food around half 9 and thankfully found a really busy cafe that served food until 10, despite being unlicensed (probably a good thing in retrospect). Devoured our food fairly speedily (chicken burger with humous and lasagne) before returning to the hostel, chatting for a while and crashing out just before midnight.
Mon 6th, our last day in NZ! :o( Can't believe how speedily it has gone and how completely amazing this country is although can't say we are sorry to be leaving the neverending drizzle for some Fijian sunshine ;o) A sad day indeed, returning the Navigator and saying bye to our home for the last 3 and a half weeks!! A small highlight was finding Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince in the book swap, so can now re read it before we see the film in the US, yay! (small things)
Anyway, had some lunch in one of the many cafes in Mount Eden before giving back the Spaceship (a little tearfully of course!) and getting a taxi to the airport when we finally managed to persuade the inspection lady that we hadn't stolen the petrol cap as a keep sake. Auckland airport is alright but much like every other airport and hence having the best part of 3 hours to kill there was not that fun. Ate some Burger King and played iPod Solitaire solidly! Finally boarded our 3 hour flight to Nadi around 6ish and thank god we had emergency exit seats as the leg room was miniscule. The flight was punctuated with free food and drinks (result) and the couple opposite trying to have very unsubtle sex under their blanket (not such a result, infact pretty gross). And on that note, bye to New Zealand and hello to Fiji! :o)
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