Airport Manor Inn Mangere

... when it came to going to bed. Lucy slept really well, however, Dan ended up setting up camp in our room from about three. No surprise there really. We let it go for the first night - it just meant we didn't have the best night's sleep!

The next few days were spent opening up box after box after box after box! I set myself a target to have everything unpacked by Sunday - why do I set myself up to fail???? We have made really good ...

... once again, that we were making our children go through this. Obviously the children loved the house out in the bush, but we had to prepare them that perhaps we wouldn't get it. Lucy took this completely to heart and was just as worried and stressed as us. Luckily, Dan was non the wiser and was just very happy to be spending the afternoon playing with Issy rather than doing 'boring house stuff' with Mummy and Daddy!

I ...

... coast line, islands, black sand beach in Reglan, and playing poker in Tauranga. As you do.

Our hitching day to an area on the east coast called the Coromandel was the WETTEST day we have had here. DUMPING rain. It took a hot shower and nap for me to warm up from being wet for the better part of the 3 hours it took us to hitch there. But we got picked up quickly, like I
said, and the Coromandel was well worth the trek.
Pukekohe, North Island, New Zealand maam

... fine. I've been making an effort to not skip any classes, but I broke that rule today. I had all intentions of going to class: I got up, dressed and ready, walked out the door, and was on my way to Finance. However, it was raining and a minute later I stepped into a puddle which soaked my socks and boots. Wet socks are the worst thing in the world! So I did what any other human being would do: I turned ...

... FREE!!! That's the real draw - I only spent an hour doing the whole thing - not days as people say to me but it was worthwhile.

I head up Cuba street - the alternative hippy counter culture street - I love these parts of cities and had a great brunch and some coffee. I'd another day here the day after which I'd intended spending climbing Mount Victoria which overlooks the city and the bay - but in the morning it was pelting down rain and dark and grey ...

... check-in opened with yet more time to kill. A pit-stop in Subway was just the job and we walked over to our check-in desk 10 minutes before it was due to open, only to be stunned by the teeming ranks of super-efficient Japanese already waiting for opening time!! As we waited in line more and more flocked across and no word of a lie, almost the entire plane full of people were waiting before the first passport was checked. Little did we know ...

... we'd be leaving Sunday evening, (see what did I tell you) We hade already booked tickets to visit Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World located along Tamaki Dr which is a scenic route which skirts around the harbour. We wanted to stop and take photos when we were here last time but there's very few parking areas and those that there were, were all full so we missed then opportunity. This time we decided to walk the 8 Km there and ...

Version:1.0 StartHTML:0000000168 EndHTML:0000002791 StartFragment:0000000489 EndFragment:0000002774 It is a rain day here in Auckland.  I used to think that raining days were horrible, but today I woke up to the soft patting of rain on the roof and felt a sense of relief.  I like it when the weather reflects how I feel.  It is impossible to go running around smiling and excited when the rain is pouring down.  And on a ...

... t see much of it. This time I walked around there where they also have a lot of restaurants - a really nice place! The only bad thing was the weather. Again, I wasn't lucky, and it was cold, windy, and started to rain. So I just had a small snack somewhere on the way back to my hotel, and I spent my last New Zealand dollars. That was it all. New Zealand. It's over. For now! Tomorrow, very ...

... 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 ...