Cockell Homestay Auckland

... first impressions are that this is a very genteel country, the vegetation is much like Victoria with the exception of the Hibiscus trees and the citrus trees. It is very clean and well managed and, nicely, not too busy.

Some highlights today - besides breakfast- included the Auckland Museum with its Maori displays of carvings and the displays about the NZ involvement in WW1. They lost ...

... beaches and hot weather to being in the middle of the city, to be honest it was a bit of a come down from Fiji.

After a couple of days i adjusted and got to see some awesome sights.
I headed out on a free Kiwi experience tour, which i thought would just be around the city centre turns out we headed round the centre but also ventured to the habour bridge and got to walk across it. Half way across was the bunjy pod and one of the guys showed us how todo a ...

... he was just glad to have got started - another tick in the box :-)

The day for myself, Lucy and Daniel was a little strange after being with Daddy so much for the last 8 weeks or so. This is yet another one of those days that I have thought about a lot in the lead up to moving. It really did feel as though one of my arms was missing!

We ...

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Leading Height Safety company providing installation of netting (bird, debris, safety), static lines, abseiling systems, and roof access needs. Salus Safety Equipment Ltd provides a range services aimed at keeping. Specialists in Flexible ...

... 10pm) I landed in Auckland. I thought it's just a routine immigration interview and I'd get a travel permit (3 months). But - it's not that easy when you are Polish! They put me straight into the Immigration Office and after 15 mins waiting the lady started asking all possible questions... Why did I come to NZ, where I gonna stay, what is my job in UK (do I have a permit to live in UK - obviously not that familiar with EU concept); when I said Kirsty is waiting for ...

... though were car dealers (well, they wouldn't admit it) and were just going to sell Miles at another market later on for more more money. So, needless to say, they weren't willing to give us much of anything for the car. We had a couple offers but held out. Then, with an hour left this guy named Eric walked up. Bran and him drove out for a test drive. Eric lived in Auckland for the last 3 months but hadn't driven yet ...

After being rudely awoken by very inconsiderate dorm mates who think that its acceptable to turn the light on at 6am, I decided to get up anyway to get some pictures of the sunrise. I decided it would be a nice way to start my 25th year. I made it back to Auckland in time for the lovely dinner Liz had prepared, pork and Yorkshire puds, yummy! And so it was time for me to get stuck into the job hunt. I was only looking for a bit of temping, but unfortunately ...

... to me...). I have managed to come in counter with the following; a spider in the shower in Robe, where I got so surprised I was about to jump out until I remembered it was a shared shower and I would have standed naked in the middle of everybody brussing their teeth... Found out later that is categorized as semi-dangerous. There were all the bloody big spiders at the Sydney zoo and we are not talking the ones in the glass cages but the ones that were ...

... a small tunnel with a fake snowstorm... We left a good meter of snow in Norway a few weeks ago now, but we haven't been gone long enough for a rotating tube of styrofoam to impress us with its 'chill-factor' :P Beyond the underwater tunnel (which even had a moving walkway for the properly lazy people :P) and the penguin ride there were of course many tanks and areas filled with fish and other funky sea creatures... We ...

... out, and the people in the were absolutely soaked. Dad thought one might tip at one point. Did you know that the Laser is a Canadian invention? I did not either until Dad mentioned it.  Most of the other people on the boat seemed surprised as well.  It was an awesome day, and what made it even better was how much Dad enjoyed it. It was a surprise, and he did not know that we were doing it until about two days before it happened. It was really great to see him having so much fun.  -Merina