Hotel Ibis Ellerslie Auckland

... a flat white or any number of other things that bring question marks to the face of an American. I found that the closest thing to an American cup of coffee is a flat white. this is a shot of espresso, added hot water and cream. Oh my, and when I ordered over medium eggs, the woman at the counter said, "so you want poached eggs?", I just said yes. And when I asked for hash-browns she said, "But you're already getting toast with ...

... and they are currently waiting to plant a new one... so it was more No tree hill than one tree hill, but again the views were amazing.<br><br>We were both flagging by this point but we carried on to reach the south coast. Perfect timing, the bus back to the city turned up and we headed back to Auckland... by this point even my blisters had blisters!<br><br>It was getting close to sunset as the bus dropped us off, so we decided to head up to the sky ...

... his pole, I started to feel what felt like a bite. He said I was probably caught on the reeds. "No, I don't think so." After reeling in slowly, I saw the outlines of a fish near the bank! I pulled it up to shore, and to our surprise, I had a big German Brown trout! Too cool, too perplexing. We grilled that fish up that night, and it was good!<br><br>After running to the store the next day, Joe and I parted was. I hitched out with 3 young dudes ...

... a crazed tool man and the last 140 amp fan cooled arc welder. I've never seen a fight escalate so quickly, with so many handy weapons within easy reach I suppose it was only time until an enraged shopper flips and turns nasty. Escaping the carnage with all limbs still attached and only minor flesh wounds it back to the house for or own DIY mania. As Rob got stuck in to aged tank I went into the surrounding brush in search of any more small slices of pine tree that I had missed ...

So long since I made the last entry, I can't believe we will be flying into the UK in a week! So here is a brief summary of our time in New Zealand - which we loved! We flew into Auckland and spent 2 nights at Takapuna Beach - pure bliss! We did almost nothing during that time and even found a couple of hours free to go to the cinema! We loved Devonport and spent a morning there then drove up North to the Bay of ...

... the world - though not Australia. There were two round robin heats and then went into quarter, semi and finals. The funny thing was that regardless of placing in the heats the NZ team went directly to the final. I guess it is their event in their country, and I don't know the stats but maybe they are the team to beat!! From here went back uptown to Albert Park where the Chinese New Year Lantern Festival was having its opening night. I had been to the park in the afternoon and ...

... prior to checking into a hotel before heading out on an early flight to Vietnam tomorrow. We have truly enjoyed this beautiful country and have learned to appreciate a few of the finer things after sleeping in a Toyota minivan together for a month. <br><br>

... and Tara and I seem to be getting on really well, so for the time being we have decided to stick together until one of us decides to go our own way. So tomorrow we are heading off North towards a place called Paihia, which is in the Bay of Islands, it should be good and warm!!! We decided to use a company called Magic Bus, which is one of the hop on - hop off bus companies, they seemed like a good deal. So in the morning the travelling starts for real...