Auckland Birdwood House B&B

... is was an even more sedate chug round the very exclusive Viaduct Harbour. This is where the really big yachts are - the 60 foot upwards blue water boats capable of crossing an ocean - all overlooked by some very exclusive apartments. According to our skipper one of the mega-yachts we passed was leaving for a pleasure cruise to Alaska right then. Bear in mind it has to cross the Pacific Ocean to get there, that's some journey. The boat was called "Ulysess" and registered ...

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Taking a breath of brisk wind in grass : Priceless












Taking a breath of fresh see breeze : Priceless!

Not much has been going on in Auckland, but we had a big birthday extravaganza for my birthday and my friend Kelly's birthday!! Her birthday was August 20th and mine was the 27th. Our birthday week began with an 80s theme party for Kelly(her choice). Eilidh (pronounced Hailey-with out the H) and I made her a rubiks cake with sponge(what they call basic cake here) and chocolate icing and m&ms!! We dressed up ...

... is a one night stop in Kaikoura - famous for its underwater canyon just off shore which attracts all types of marine life - particularly fur seals (smelly *******s), dolphins and whales - sperm whales. We arrive at the Adelphi hostel which surely is as close to Fawlty Towers aesthetically as anywhere I've ever stayed. The lads are bundled into a room with 5 beds - 2 bunks. I'm on the top bunk - **** - hate that - of which more later.

The lads are decent ...

... arrived in New Zealand two days ago. I flew into Auckland, did a bit of walking around town but spent a couple hours in a super cheap internet cafe updating pictures online. I joined the Kiwi Experience bus early the next morning and from the very beginning it was spectacular scenery unlike any I've ever seen before. Five minutes outside the city was a volcanic crater that was inverted into the ground, not what I would expect, but it's fun being surprised. When I first saw all the ...

... what possessed my fingers; I come from the William Forrester reason for writing. "Writers write things to give readers something to read." You are still reading aren't you? Now read that quote with a bad Sean Connery accent, it's just more fun that way. Like I began to imply, before my fingers took over and extricated the mindless drivel that roams around inside my head waiting for a laps in concentration allowing a sudden and optimistically droll liberation, the ...

Thursday 05/03/09 At Sea going slowly Temps Air 26°C Headset Harry I thought I'd give you another insight to some of the passengers on board; I've named this person headset Harry. As I've previously said in order to guarantee being able to use the gym's equipment when it opens in the morning you have to start queuing around 07:35 at the latest, and like myself headset Harry is one of the first people there. Without being to derogatory I ...

... you could see all of Auckland and some of the sorrounding mountains wich seemingly felt lower than the hight you yourself was at... Next stop was to pick up our camper van to get going on the, next heading to hot water beach in coromandel to try the hot water which we couldnt figure out how to do so me and my dad just decided to go mental in the (for a danish guy) freakish waves which was very fun and the water of course was very hot and nice...

... water back downstream, around the
dune, and back to the hill we were to boogie board down, and that we
had long forgotten about already.


So
we failed miserably after a few runs, as the unforgiving wet sand
didn't let us slide ...

Arrived! 12 hours of flight but 1.5 days lost in time space continuum and here we are! Matt and Tina picked us up from the airport at 6 am (poor them, they didn't have to wake up....) and we had a nice walk around the city on the first day. Managed to get quite a few beers and bars crammed into the walk as well - luckily it was Labour Day and a day off for both of them. Auckland seems very nice, quite spread around, houses and style in general is a funny kind ...