The Salty Dog Inn Warkworth

... lunch in Leigh Sawmill Café. This place makes its own beer and it was delicious; so delicious we had 3 pints each – lovely, if only the sun had been out it would have been perfect. Headed for Martins Beach Holiday Park where we were spending the night. Lovely camp situated right on the beach; Morgan and I went fishing off the rocks for a few hours but no luck once again!!

Distance Travelled today – 151 km. Total Distance travelled 4257 Km.

... and gave the tent a good ol' shaking out on the floor in front of me. Apparently, that dirt that fell off is dangerous to the country. I followed the signs to the city centre, the grid system making it real easy to find Charlie B's backpackers which would be home for the next 5 nights. It really hurt handing $36 over to Vodafone for a new sim card tonight as they're even bigger ******* than Virgin Blue. Apparently they're the only company that does pre-pay in NZ, so I got told ...

... three o'clock under sunny skies. Rob has to take the car for its MOT in the afternoon so I go fora run down to the Waitakere Damn and looping around for 6 km. Six kilometers isn't really that far but when you add in the New Zealand terrain it becomes mega, but it was an awesome run with exciting root stepped down hills followed by tricky tree dodging flats and strength sapping climbs all culminating in exhaustion. Exhausted and energized, if that is ...

... the corner as the afternoon went on. Later we moved onto the Viaduct downtown skirting a few more bars choosing not to go into -5deg's where you need a dufflecoat to go into a chiller room and drink ice vodka. What happens in the Kiwi winters does it turn into +35deg. and you are given a beach shirt or thong I wonder? Thurs 5th March - Leigh and Mermaid Dollars O/S Fri 6th March O/S Sat 7th March - Matt and Vanessa's Wedding O/S Sun 8th March - O/S Monday 9th March O/S

... is just about up. We have approximately 24 hours before we need to leave the country. It's been a great trip. We've managed to juggle relaxation with a number of activities and we thank everyone that helped make it all possible and a little easier. Highlights would be the jet boat trip, the beach at Puheke, some of the spectacular scenery, seeing a kiwi in the wild and....errm... oh yeah, getting married! Seems like ages ago now :-) See you all soon!

... for the bus to the hostel. A nice little hostel with funky wallpaper!! While in Auckland we went on a boat ride round the harbour and visited Rangitoto a volcanic island!! Then we went to the top of the sky tower which was really good and I reckon say it better than Sydney.I think that was partly to do with the fact we could watch people jumping off and doing the sky walk!! We also visited the Museum which was quite interesting and took up ...

... After seeing the major sites and noon was just passed, we decided to return to the ship. This was easy as the one of the bus stops was at the Ferry Building which was right by our ship. Joining the White Lady in port was the Queen Victoria. But Auckland, being a city of 1.5 Million People, did not seemed overrun or bothered by the two ships being in harbor at the same time. We returned to the ship for a nice lunch and a bit of rest; before heading back out into the ...

... stung. Once back in Auckland we went to Viaduct Harbour's Waterfront Restaurant and had dinner the food was quite nice and the place was lovely. Rangitoto Island has no shops or bins so you need to take food, water, sunscreen and a hat with you. Anything you take with you to the island must also leave the island with you. There is more of Rangitoto to see and you can go across to Motutapu Island from Rangitoto but we didn't have time to see it all.

... the other team was not so good. I had to ref the game for the older girls and that was pretty neat, although I have not run a full game of soccer in quite some time. I was quite tired by the end. However the principal saw me out there and commented on what a good job I was doing at the next staff meeting. Slightly awkward and embarrassing, but nice at the same time. The weather over the past weekend ...

... It is not that fun to walk to class during a short storm. Last weekend, I went to Auckland and got to see some of the sites there which was quite fun. I liked being able to go into the city and got to see some other Americans which is nice. My supervising teacher has been absent for 4 days and as a result I have been the students' teacher and that is a large learning curve! gotta fly....