What a pilava there was the next day at the airport! I was flying with Emerates to Christchurch and I was told by the pompous check out guy at the desk that unless I can prove that I'm flying out of New Zealand, I won't be allowed in. As it was I was able to present my round the world ticket just for him to shake his head and say it wasn't enough. Stupid idiot. So I had to reprint my ticket and go up to Air Pacific and check my flight to give the ok to enter the country. The woman on the Air Pacific desk was much more helpful and said she didn't know what he was talking about and it was fine. Told you he was a stupid idiot. Amazingly though the flight from Sydney to Christchurch was the best I've ever been on. With a slap-up meal being served and 100 movies to choose from for just a 3hour journey, it definitely made the time fly.
By the time I got through baggage collection and then through immigration at christchurch, I had 15minutes to board my next flight to Aukland. The gods were with me though and I landed in Aukland late that evening. I felt like I had been on a plane forever so by the time I got to the hostel I was exhausted, even though I'd been sitting all day. The hostel was easy to find and was called the Fat Camel (?) the second hostel that was in a dodgy area in the city. The city itself however was not too bad and it actually reminded my a lot of sydney (sorry my kiwi friends it this offends you) only slightly more rural and colder. New zealand is currently coming out of summer and there was a definite chill in the air as the country was gripping hold of the last of it's warmth. I learnt that aukland is the 4th largest city in the world with the amount of land it covers but has the smallest population in relation to it's massive size.
That evening I went to visit the canadians who I had learnt was also in aukland at this point but they were taking the kiwi experience bus around the country. Went food shopping and went to bed. Manic day.
The next day I decided to be sociable and booked a beach trip to mission bay with a really loud tour guide called Speedo. He didn't really say why he was called that and I didn't want to ask. It was only $5 and we spent a day at the beach with a BBQ thrown in cooked by the lovely Speedo. The beach itself was nice and clean, the sand not as fine as Australia, and darker due to the surrounding volcanic rock. Mission bay itself was an expensive area of the city with house prices averaging at around 4 million for your basic two bedroom bungalow. I hung around with a german and Canadian girl on the beach, ate too many sausages and had an over expensive ice cream. Overall it was a pretty good day. That evening I got ready to be picked up by Michael, one of the charming people I met on my Thailand trip who moved from London back home to aukland. It was great to see him again and was like I had seen him only yesterday. He took me over to his house in a plush part of town where he lived with his mum while he was trying to find a job. His mum is a judge, hence the beautiful wooden house with the extensive gardens that he showed me around when we first arrived. His mum, an odd intensive woman, offered us dinner and then we went off to michaels local pub to meet his mates for a drink and to take part in the pub quiz. I was pretty nervous, not just about meeting a bunch of rowdy pervy blokes but because I'm rubbish at pub quizzes. After a few ciders though I was feeling much mote relaxed and had a brilliant time with the banter. I even got a couple of the questions right!
The next day I was feeling a bit worse for wear so michael suggested we go for a big breakfast and head to mount etna, a large inactive volcano found in the middle of the city. The view from the top were beautiful and you could see 360deg to every corner of the city. It was a stunning day for it too but the photos I took just did it no justice to how amazing it was. I tried anyway, as every tourist does. After the drive down (we lazily drove up) we went to a small beach beginning with 'T' which name I couldn't pronounce or remember. It was a pretty beach looking out across the harbour but what stuck me the most was the ridiculously expensive houses who's perfectly primmed gardens backed onto the beach. These were mansions, castles even, immaculate in every way. Most were probably only used a few weeks of the year as holiday homes for the insanely rich. That will be my life one day, I thought.
After I got back to the hostel I went for a quick run. Yes an actual run. I promise I'm not lying. Had a shower and my free dinner of disgusting packet mash and dodgy sausages from the hostel and went to meet the canadians who were staying up the road from my hostel. It seems I'm walking in their footsteps which is fine by me because I think I'll miss them when we go our separate ways. After a heavy night on the captain morgans and a 2am macdonalds I managed to squeeze in a few hours sleep before the Stray bus arrived the next day for the start oft new Zealand adventure.