Best Western Great South Road Auckland

... were such nice people, I could've stayed chatting with them for much longer. Another fun thing was the flight simulator I went to north of Auckland city. You sit in an actual 737 cockpit that has all the switches, dials, knobs and buttons, and a 180degree wraparound screen in front showing very realistic landscapes. Needless to say, my instructor said I was a naturally gifted pilot...!! So I know now that, if called upon, I can fly and land a Boeing ...

... been on a great boat trip met up with some dolphins and great little islands... we were kinder to them than the marlin. It is now ******* down with rain so have managed to find this internet cafe to get up to date with the blog.

missing you all terribly and really wish we were back home .......not!

speak to you soon

steve n sarah

ps keep writing comments we really love them !

Hi all,

We're in New Zealand!! The long flight wasn't too bad, Alasia was able to sleep and I of course stayed up and watched one movie after another. Qantas Airlines was great, it was actually one of the best flights we've ever had. Definitely the longest. Auckland is a beautiful city and we got a thrilling cab ride to our hotel. A good example of driving on the left! Our driver was super ...

... product.

BrandStand are the Display & Exhibition system specialists. We have built our business on innovation, quality and service. We design and manufacture a complete range of unique and constantly evolving display solutions. Biz Solutions Limited is committed to providing a comprehensive range of practical accounting services for today's economic environment and we have over twenty years combined experience in New Zealand ...

... 8221;. I called when I got into the room the previous night to be greeted by the happy voice of Fred and arranged to meet for dinner. On studying the local area, I found out that Peter Gordon who put New Zealand on the map internationally with his fusion cooking and owner of Providores in London (a popular haunt for me and some of the readers!) has a flagship restaurant in Auckland called “Dine” – it had to be ...

... throughout the plane for 6-8 hours. Even the overhead lights didn’t work, so I resorted to using my cell phone’s light to read Sports Illustrated.

Thankfully, the IFE came back on with 3 hours left. I watched an Auckland Travel Guide and some British or Australian shows to get me in the cultural mood. My ...

... hike....7 hours eeeeeeee!! But he loved it too, made some American buddies (shock horror boys I know) and had a great time although he was well and truly shattered by the end of it.

Unfortunately we spent such a long time on the west coast that we didn't have time to do the North (although I don't think we were missing out on too much). Instead we decided to bomb it straight across back East and spend our last day on the skiing slopes. Phil had never ...

... a stroll down town, nothing was open though because it was Good Friday. That evening we made our way to Eden Park to watch the Super 14 game between the Auckland Blues and Lions(South African team). Super 14 is the southern hemisphere equivalent of the Heineken Cup. There are 5 teams from NZ, 5 from South Africa and 4 from Oz(or something like that?). Eden Park was in the middle of re-development for when NZ hosts the next Rugby World Cup in 2011 so half the stadium was ...

... and plenty more swimming. Our last waterfall was especially fun. There was no way around it. It was a 30 foot drop where you had to jump between to rock walls to land in a pool that no one knew how deep. Finally a brave volunteer stepped forward and jumped. It seems like everyone exhaled when we saw her head go underwater. Whew, we thought at least it was that deep. Popping up, the girl motioned to come, but jump just where she ...

Full Circle - Return to Auckland In the clear, cold dawn of our last morning in Whakapapa we could see the distant lowlands to which we were aiming. A drive North through rolling hills and attractive wooded valleys brought us to Waitomo, of "glow worm caves" fame, by coffee time. These proved a good example of a tourist trap (mostly for coach tourists) that draws in the crowds through over-hyped marketing. It is true that ...