We arrived safely in Auckland this morning after over 30 hours travelling. The flights were really good, if long! We had to try and stay awake on the first flight and we just about managed it, even though it landed in LA at what felt like 4am. As soon as we got on the second flight we went to sleep so hopefully we won't be too jet lagged! Claire won the film contest as I fell asleep or got bored half way through most of mine and only managed to watch two whole films. Fail! Also, it was night time during the entire 26 hour flight which was very bizarre, and now I have no clue what day or time it is!

We arrived to very warm but misty and rainy weather in Auckland. Typical! It is strange it being so warm and yet so wet. Really not good weather for your hair! To add to the fun the car hire company warned us that two cyclones are on the way. Great!

We successfully picked up Lucy, our little car for the next 4 weeks. She's a little slow at getting up hills and makes some funny beeping noises when she's not happy but I hope we'll be good friends! We'll post a picture of her soon!

We managed to navigate our way to Anna's house without too many difficulties, although half way we realised we didn't have a clue what the speed limit is. Oops! After breakfast and a quick shower went out to the Auckland museum with Anna and her friend Sarah, who is also visiting from the UK. We learned lots about NZ and we're now looking forward to spotting all sorts of creatures and cultural things on our travels. Well worth the $10 entry fee!

It started to rain torretially as soon as we left the museum and we were literally soaked to the skin in about 30 seconds. Not deterred, we drove to Mt Eden, which is one of the volcanoes in Auckland. I think we found cyclone no 1 at the top! It was so windy and foggy that you couldn't even see the crater of the volcano! At least we drove, some crazy people were walking up! Following that we drove through the lovely Cornwall Park and went to One Tree Hill (which doesn't have a tree?) but it was also very foggy there too so it was a short stay. Apparently when it's a clear day it offers the best view over Auckland (we'll have to trust Anna on that one...).

The sky tower in Auckland was the tallest building in the southern hemisphere for many years. It normally provides amazing views over Auckland. We had a reservation for dinner there as this is our only day in Auckland but they called to cancel as it was so windy, so we drove to the information centre to book accommodation for the next two days, and waited for a break in the clouds to see the whole of the sky tower. Then we went to get some lovely Japanese food instead in a tiny quaint restaurant in the Kingsland area. Was getting very sleepy by this point so glad it was just around the corner from Annas.

Today has been really funny despite the tiredness. Auckland is like a combination of lots of places and seems very familiar. However, there are some very random things here. Firstly, although you drive on the left, if you're turning left you gave to give way to oncoming right turners. This is very strange and doesn't seem to make any sense? Drivers here are crazy though, and kids can drive when they are 14. Whilst stuck in rush hour traffic, we were overtaken by a man who was driving a tractor pulling some kind of burger van down the equivalent of Oxford St! Very funny! (see picture!)

Other things we found in Auckland were Westfield shopping centre, a cenotaph, gifts from the V&A museum in the gift shop, Lush and lots of Subways. Really I think we're in some kind of tropical London. We also found a shop called The Baby Factory...

It is now 9.00 on Tuesday night and we've managed to stay awake all day (despite me nodding off several times in the car and once in the museum!) so it's finally bed time, for the first time since Saturday night!

We're off to the Bay of Islands tomorrow. Hopefully cyclone no 2 will hit over night and the weather will have cleared!