Been feeling my way round Auckland since Monday and trying to get my bearings and see what's what. It's a cool relaxed city but i'm itching to get out and see the 'real' NewZ. Everyone says don't stay in Auckland, it's the worse part of the country! Luckily i hadn't planned to stay here and i'm really looking forward to going out into the Wop Wops as they call the countryside here.

The Asian influence here is very pronounced, i don't know if it's just Auckland. All the fashion boutiques are Japanese-run and they're all identical - little school-girly type clothes and cartoon characters and pastels. You don't see any of the Kiwi girls wearing this stuff though and certainly not the Maori - only the Jap chicks who all walk round holding hands.

The Maori who make up 14% of the population are mostly seen in manual, domestic and service jobs. Like any minority they seem slightly down-trodden but are being encouraged and nutured by the Government - there's a lot of focus on their culture and heritage. You can't help but wonder if this is in the Establishment's best interests with regard to what the tourists want to see and hear. Nevertheless, Maori rights feature in the news a lot and over the last 10 years thousands of compensation claims have been put through the courts for Maori land that was sold. There's also many Pacific Islanders and we met three Samoan chaps on thursday night. They were very friendly and interested and think Europe is this great seat of all culture and civilisation - where all the really old stuff is! They sang God Save Our Queen and Swing Low in harmony for us. Bless! One of them, Henry, said I looked very professional and asked if my glasses were prescribed! Apparently the Nerdy look goes down very well with Polynesian men.

On Thursday the group were going bungying off Auckland Harbour bridge and i went along to watch. We all had to wear harnesses, attached to the bridge by a wire. We climbed under the bridge and walked all the way to the centre, right over the water. No photos sadly, as no loose items allowed. In the middle of the bridge we climbed into a pod that opened over the water with little platforms to jump off. Vetigo sufferers wouldn't fair to well and Liz didn't let go of the railing the whole time, feeling very sick and dizzy!

The bungy dudes were very cool and had rockin tunes playing in the pod. The group took it in turns to get strapped up and were taken to the edge! It was just frightening and exhilarating to watch - i was nervous and i wasn't even jumping! The floor of the pod was see-thru (urgh!) and you could see them flying down towards the water, boinging up and down 3 or 4 times before being winched back up. Some of them hit the water and came back up soaked and freezing - it wasn't a warm day. It took hours for the whole group to have a go but the sun went down as we were there and atmosphere was ace. Part of me wished i was joining in but i'm quite glad i've saved my money (for the sky-dive!). There was free beer for us afterwards at the bar next to the hostel and we enjoyed a drink after such a knee-trembling day.

Today i went up the Skytower (see pic above) which is the tallest manmade structure in the southern hemisphere. The view was unsurprisingly very cool. And one of the group, Sharon jumped off it! Photos will follow so please bare with me.

The others have gone to watch Rugby tonight, Auckland v Otago but i'm not really a sport nut so i'll save that trip for another time. Other than that, i've been to the market, eaten more sushi, applied for a job up North and tomorrow i'm meeting Gary's brother Stu, and going to buy a banger at the backpackers car market. Yay! x