So my last week in Auckland is over as is my time at the Bridgeway Cinema. There goes my hopes of conquering Hollywood. I made the decision to leave on the basis that I need to be back in Auckland in May to see family and thus now was the best time to leave. After having a great meal out with Nick and Tracey, I embarked on a mammoth weekend of work. On the Saturday I was invited out by two girls from work, Anna and Sara to celebrate St Patricks. After a killer 13 hour shiftIi dashed home for the quickest turn-around on record and was back in central Auckland smelling fresh in under thirty minutes.

Our first bar was a student one where i was refused entry despite being the oldest person in the vícinity. It was due to me not carrying my passport as a means on ID, how stupid am I to rely solely on my driving licence? I tired to 'sweet-talk' my way in by handing over Nick's business card as a guarantee as to my age but to no avail. Eventually we headed to a bar where I was allowed in and I began catch-up. It was a really good night and I must thank the people in charge of daylights savings here in NZ for the brilliant idea of putting the clocks back on St Paddy's day meant my three hours of sleep turned into four before another day at work.

The next day was mundane and rather monotonous but the highlight of the day came when I received a $100 tip from a lady and her diasbled mother after helping them out. I basically did what anyone with a little bit of common courtesy would do and aided them in getting in and out of the cinema. The lady commented that I was, 'the nicest person they had ever met at a cinema' and she returned a little while later with an envelope with a $100 in it. Sadly, the money went straight from my pocket into Nick's as I owed him money.

The rest of the week passed without hitch, work was a good laugh, especially working with the smiley Anna. All I can say is I have never met anybody who can smile as much as she can, nor have I met anyone who has so many random sayings, several of which she attempted to teach me.

On the Thursday night Nick, Tracey and I headed to Snowplanet to go skiing. I was a little apprehensive about getting back on the piste after two years but thankfully I didn't fall once and managed to hold my own against my competitive brother. On one run we had a competition of how many 360s we could complete back-to-back. I bagged eight and he managed twelve before falling over. The rest of the time focused on trying to crack a smile on the iron-faced ski lift attendant. She did smile at my rendition of Little Britain and "I want that one!" whilst waiting for ski lifts; I let several pass much to the annoyance of the other people in the queue whilst quoting the aforementioned phrase. One point to James for making her smile.

The following evening I headed to meet Natalie and we went to Eden Park to watch the Auckland Blues rugby team play the Waratahs. The game was entertaining even though it would seem that the Waratahs never really turned up; they were hammered 35-6 by a Blues squad boasting several All Black players, most notably Kevin Meluamu and Doug Howlett. At the times when the game got a little boring and Natalie and I had stopped chatting to catch out breath, there was entertainment in the form of cheerleaders strutting their stuff.... At the end of the game we got chance to meet several of the players and grab their autographs before we headed back into town to meet Nick and Tracey and get something to eat.

The whole of the next day was to get ready for the bus tour and go and buy some Icebreaker clothing. Icebreaker is a Kiwi outdoor clothing brand which is notorious in NZ for it's warmth and the fact that you can wear it again and again and it won't whiff. They claim you can wear Icebreaker night and day for forty days and it won't smell even slightly of your body, but the record is over 170 days. Sadly, that works out about 24 weeks and since I am only going to be away for another 18 I have decided against trying to break the record.

There was just enough time for one final meal in the city and an eventful drive home where I got to drive Nick's automatic car, 'drive' being a prime example of stop-start motion after my left and right feet got confused about what pedals to press. Tracey had been drinking and Nick had been called out to a negotiating situation and thus I was the only one able to drive Tracey and I home.

And that's it. My first stay in Auckland has come to an end, now it is time to go off and explore what the rest of New Zealand has to offer....