Delays, jet lag... but all good in Auckland!

OK, so not the perfect start to the trip when we were delayed on every leg of our flight! Me & Ad met at the airport at 6pm, were checked in and in a Wetherspoons by 7.30pm and on the plane at about 10.45pm. Unfortunately it didn't take off until 12.20am on Monday! We then arrived in the newly-opened Bangkok (4 days old), where we had no real time to do anything as we were stuckon the plane due to a Thai retard being unable to connect the tunnel to the plane. This delay then made us miss our transfer in Sydney to Auckland, so we had a few beers (7am in Sydney so we got a few funny looks...). Finally got to Auckland and checked in to the hostel, which is really nice, at about 8pm Kiwi time. This left enough time for a few cheeky beers in the hostel bar with a girl we met on the Airport bus.

Auckland Skyline

Woke up today (Wednesday 4th) at about 5am so not much sleep again, but got up early to book our place on a free Auckland tour. It turned out to be a great day (and great value for money). The bus took us to the 'nicest' part of Auckland, where the houses are most expensive due to their views of Auckalnd's volcanic mounds (Rengi Toto) and the beach running up to their back gardens. We took the views in then went up a volcanic mound that has New Zealand's biggest gun on it from the days of keeping Russians away.

Beers in Sydney Airport - 7.30am

Me & Ad were kept entertained by the token Chinese group, who wanted photos of everything and got a bit of a ribbing from tour guide (Nathan) "You see that gun, its for keeping the Chinese away too". He then took us to a 'fush n chip' place where we got fresh fish and chips for under 2 quid. It was soooo nice!

Last stop on the tour was Auckland harbour bridge, where we walked on the underside of of the bridge (1.2km). It bought to light that I'm really not great with heights - and Ad is! The 1st Bungy Jump in the world is on the bridge, and we went up to the platform and could do the jump - we opted out but its going to be done in Queenstown in a few weeks (as long as I don't bottle it).

Rangi Toto volcano in Auckland

We got back from the tour and sorted out our travel for the reast of New Zealand, which was also cheap (notice a trend), as were my new swim shorts and shades from Ripcurl. After that, we went up the Sky Tower (tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere) and the views were awesome. I'll try and upload the pics as soon as possible and you will see!!!

Anyways, time for a shower, food and a few more beers but nothing too severe - our coach to Bay of Islands leaves at 7.20am. I hope the lack of sleep doesn't start to punish me...

PS Sorry if this is long/detailed, but its also for me as my memory is awful so expect a few long diary entries!

Views from Auckland Skytower

Views from Skytower..