Nomads Fat Camel Auckland

We flew from Fiji to Auckland on Tuesday morning. A nice short flight for a change which only took about 3 hours. We arrived around lunchtime and quickly sorted out a hostel in the city and transport from the airport to there. Once we were checked in we went for a stroll down through the main shopping district based mainly around Queen St. in the heart of the CBD. At 20 degrees it wasn't as cold as we expected it to be although we have been promised much colder weather as we travel down south...

So the story of the Stray bus begins. The bus arrived at 8:20, 5 minutes after the magic bus. We actually followed the magic bus all the way to Kiakoura. Had I picked the right option? Would it have been better to go with the cheaper option? I would have to wait and see. Our driver was called Bagginz - he claims to have been a stunt double for Lord of the Rings. On the bus was about 20 people. 2 couples, a group who had been on for a while including a loud Scottish girl, a group of 3 girls at...

Day 194 - Left Wellington with Spike as my driver again. Basically drove all day up to Auckland and so was a very boring day. The landscape is definitely less dramatic in the north island than the south - lots of cleared land for pasture and a fair bit of soil erosion as a result. Best part of the day was when Spike drove along the bus lane and skipped all the traffic going into Auckland - he is naughty! Having stayed 4 nights in Nomads in Wellington, I got a free night at The Fat Camel - and...

Having been in New Zealand for two days I have decided that this is where I want to live, no doubt about it. It's already hard to imagine this country being topped in terms of aesthetic pleasure or the quality of life there is here. Its a place that seems keen to keep things nice, with a voter turn out of 80%, and a record low level of unemployment at just 3.7%. It was the first country in the world to give women the vote (in 1893, Britain giving full voting rights in 1928 (I'm quite sure on ...

I havent sent this entry to people on the mailing list because it is just a really quick review of the places we have stayed at. I thought it might be useful for a few people that I know are travelling and reading this so here we go! USA - Vibe Hotel / Banana Hostel (LA / Hollywood) Great location, in the centre of town, really cheap with good facilities including free internet and free breakfast. DEFINATLY recommended. Fiji - Skylodge / Nomads (Nadi): Actual Hostel was nice, clean and comfor...

I thought I might let you all in on some of the things we have been busying ourselves with, and some of the things we hope to busy our selves with. So here we go. The other day we went to a lantern festival for the Chinese new year. It was a free event held in Albert Park - Auckland, and as the names suggests, it had lots of lanterns. There were teapot lanterns, dog lanterns, penguin lanterns, house lanterns, general normal lanterns. There was music and some of those dancing Chinese dragons, ...

Well the best laid plans and all that. I managed to get to the airport late due to a mess up and missed my connecting flight to New Zealand. There is no other flight until tomorrow at 0930hrs.

I telephoned Penny my contact there and she is going to pick me up when I arrive at 3pm. This is going to muck up the schedule a little and mean I wont have the whole day with them discussing the training but I'm sure we can fill in the blanks.

Anyway, its going to be a long night at the a...

Well the night at the airport was pretty uneventful. I managed to find a shower and got freshened up and changed before I arrived in New Zealand.

Penny met me at the airport together with Garreth and we drove and talked to catch up on lost time.
They took me up to the top of Mount Victoria to see the views of the Island and I must say it reminds me of the Scottish Mountains a little.

We all had dinner together that evening and again, this gave me the opportunity to ask lots o...

Today I was taken over to the Police Training College in Wellington where I spent time meeting some of the training teams and talking about the CSI program.

Because NZ Police is one force area, all personnel come here for training. There are regional differences in practice - bit like our own good practice methods in the UK I imagine.

After lunch I went over and met the staff at ESR the forensic service provider and had a tour of the facilities there. Nice I have to say.

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Vanuit de bus had ik lange files gezien richting de noordelijke stranden vanwege het lange weekend dat de kiwi's voor de boeg hebben. Ik had al begrepen dat er zowel op vrijdag als op zondag een verbod is op het schenken van alcohol in bars en cafe's en eenmaal in Auckland bleek de hele binnenstad dan ook compleet uitgestorven te zijn. Bijna alles was gesloten, op de Starbucks en wat 24/7 supermarktjes na. Ik checkte in bij de Fat Camel, een hostel wat op het internet berucht is door zijn waa...