The flight to New Zealand was pretty uneventful and got an early first night at my hostel before I started my job hunting the next day. My brother Matt has spent some time living and working in Auckland and he told me about a "one stop shop" that helps backpackers find work, sort out bank accounts and tax as well as finding a place to live. Easy!! No! Unfortunately this place had shut down a few months before I got here so I had to do all my own leg work!

After spending a good amount of time surfing the net over the next few days I managed to find a few agencies dotted around the city. So I did the rounds, meeting people, handing over my CV and doing tests. It seemed to take ages to make any head way so after I had at least registered with some of the agencies I turned my attention to find a place to live.

I seemed to spend ages again surfing the net to try and find some where to live that would take me as I was only looking for a couple of months. After seeing a few possibilities I managed to get a place about 20 minutes walk form the centre of town. To be honest it was nice to get out of the hostel and have a bit of privacy and to not have to share a bathroom with so many other people. I did meet some really nice people when I was there. Two of which were Matt & Sera who are now living in the city. It was nice to have a couple of friendly faces to see once in a while. Besides the hostel was clean enough and had pretty good facilities but the shine was taken off it a bit when some guy died in the room next to mine. Nice!!

It took me about a week to find a place and get moved in. once I was sorted I spent about another week going around agencies being told "nothing, sorry" as well as applying for jobs on-line. Luckily I had enough money to be able to hold out for a good job and to turn down a few, including one that was door-to-door sales!! I eventually got a call from an agency how invited me in for a chat and to do some tests. Within a couple of hours I had an interview sorted for the next day, which I went to and got the job!

I ended up working at the University of Auckland in the International Admissions Department. Basically my job was to be first point of contact for applications sent form overseas. I would asses them, chase up documentation and liaise with faculty members and foreign agents. The job was exactly what I was looking for, I had to actually use my brain, interact with people from different backgrounds and to add to that everyone was really friendly. I had a great time working with them all. Cheers guys!

After a bit of a slow start things in Auckland really came together. A decent job, which actually interested me and a pretty cool little flat. Initially I was living with two others, Anja from Germany, but who has lived over here for a good few years, and Lance who was originally from Samoa. Both really cool people and who made me feel right at home. A couple of weeks later we were joined by two lads form Germany here studying at UoA. Luckily again both Marc and Sebastian were easy to get on with and a good laugh. Plus everyone spoke amazing English, handy for me as, despite both my teacher's and my Mother's best efforts, my grasp of the German language is pretty nonexistent!

I spent most of my time in Auckland working, trying to save enough money for the rest of my trip. I did manage to see a lot of the city and some of the surrounding area but only if it was cheap to do so. While I've been here I have visited the black sand beach at Piha, west of Auckland, watched some Super 14s rugby, went trekking in a few National Parks, swimming in a geologically heated pool and climbed a good number of Auckland's many volcanic hills.

I have been in Auckland a little under 3 months and have really enjoyed myself I have met some amazing people here who I will definitely be keeping in contact with. And I have achieved one of the main aims I had for this trip. I have experienced living and work not just in another city or another country but another hemisphere! It's something that I will never forget and I want to say thank you to everyone I have met here for making it such a memorable experience.

Tomorrow I move on to Christchurch in the South Island. It's from there that I start my travels around New Zealand for the next month or so. There are so many new, adventurous and frankly crazy things to see and do I have a feeling I'm going to a brilliant time.

p.s. Happy birthday to my twin bro Matt!!! I hope you have a great day bruv and we'll go out for birthday drink when I get home. And thanks to everyone for all the birthday messages and cards, it's nice to know I haven't been forgotten