So, we move on to part two of my travels...New Zealand!
Wesnesday 25th - My arrival.
After a long 13 hour flight I arrived in New Zealand, excited about what the next 2-3 months may bring! I was picked up by John (best man at Mum and Rich's wedding a few years ago) and then taken back to his lovely bungalow in a place called Waiuku (about 45 minutes from Auckland). After having a warm welcome from Tracey and we'd all had a bit of a chat, we went out for a walk,with their new dog, around the (small) local area. Just round the corner from their house was a lovely picturesque view of the estury and Queen's gardens (like council gardens, all along the coast line). It's so amazing to have this right on your doorstep, the area is so attractive and peaceful! After we took the dog for a walk we went for some lunch in the high street where me and John both had Satay Chicken...lovely!
From there John and Tracey took me to one of their local beaches, Kariotahi. This beach was amazing...it had black sand!!! How cool is that?! Never in my life had i seen a black sanded beach. The sand gets its colour from the volcanic rock. So we had a nice walk along the beach, it was pretty much empty apart from a few other dog walkers. But it probably wouldnt get too much busier in summer time...can you imagine the temperature of the sand in the blistering sunshine?! It's be enough to burn your feet. There were some awesome waves out there, so hopefully I'll come back down in the future to do some surfing perhaps or maybe even kite fishing! In the evening we all went out to the local pub (wolf & beaver) for a pub quiz.

Thursday 26th - Chill out day!
I sat in the spa pool in the garden for a few hours, the weather was gorgeous. I then went to explore the high street, not much there but was good to see what was there in case i needed anything. When i got home, i went back in the spa pool :-)

Friday 27th - My first taste of Auckland

John dropped me off at the train station in Papakoura, and i was off on my way to down town Auckland. I arrived to the Britomart station at 8.30am ish and made my way up to the Skytower, which was visable almost everywhere you were down town. I paid an entrance fee of $18 which took me to the 186m high Main Observation Level and the 220m Skydeck Viewing Platform. The views from both levels were amazing, sights i could quite clearly see were the Harbour bridge, Devonport, Auckland museum, Rangitoto and just about everywhere within a 3 mile radius. However, it was quite scary stood that high up, on the lower level there was a glass window on the floor that you could stand on and peer down 186m to the city below...all that went through my mind was "don't break, don't break". I had a hot chocolate in the Sky Lounge Cafe...and plotted my next move.
From the sky tower, I decided to visit the Museum, about a mile or two away and have a look around. Admission was a $5 donation, and that gave me access to all the rooms and floors. The Maori art collection was just incredible. Reading the history to each artifact was really enjoyable. And the detail that was put into the design of each artifact was amazing, the patterns were so beautiful. My favourite items were the 'Pare' - which were carved blocks of wood that were hung above the doorway to a Maori Chief's house which marked an important symbolic threshold between the domains of Tumatauenga the God of War on the outside and Rongo the God of Peace on the inside. These blocks had been dumped or thrown away during raids or wars centuries ago, and were eventually recovered from swamps etc and were still in fantastic condition. It was quite spooky to be stood in front of something that was so symbolic to the Maori people. Other favourites were the old Maori wooden huts, there was so much attention to detail with the artwork inside it was beautiful...to enter you also had to take your shoes off in a mark of respect. There was also a long boat carved from trees, again the pattern detail on this was remarkable. In the museum there was also a section for the history of wars New Zealand had been involved in, a section that had traditional Pacific Island artifacts (dresses, clothes, ornaments etc etc) and also a section on how New Zealand came to be - Volcanoes! There was a small room in this section that gave you the chance to see and feel what would happen if there was an earthquake and volcanic eruption in the harbour, i was sat on the couch and the room shook so much when the earthquake went off that it almost gave me whiplash! Pretty scary though.
John then picked me up from the Sky tower, and we drove past Mission Bay (looked like a lovely beach, perfect in the summer) and we drove past Mt Wellington.
I spent the evening with John and Declan (John's lad - my age) in the spa with a few bottles of beer/cider each, a great way to finish the day! Roll on the weekend...