Getting to Auckland was possibly the worst day since I left in April. Nowhere had I read that I needed a return ticket to get into the country so I was very surprised when the check in lady wouldn't let me check in until I'd bought a return ticket. Que panic. I could have easily have bought a return ticket but didn't want to be restricted by location and dates so I didn't. A frantic hour of internet searching and calls home and I had a ticket but had to queue up again. 30 minutes before my flight was due to leave and I'm being fast tracked through the security queue only to be stopped for having a penknife in my bag (annoying as I'd actually put this into my hand luggage accidentally whilst trying to make my checked in bag lighter!). I ran to the gate with 2 minutes before the flight was due to leave only to find out that it was delayed 1 hour. I wasn't very impressed! The flight however was excellent with Air New Zealand as they had endless films to choose from and they gave you a cup of tea and I also landed an aisle seat with no one on the other side which was nice.
Landing in Auckland was another nightmare as the queues for nothing to declare and declare are as long as each other. Going into NZ you have to declare practically everything as they are really high on bio security so after a rummage through my bags for museli bars and my walking shoes I was free to go. Getting into the city was easy as I just hopped on the airport bus but I wasn't very happy about the driver blaming me the whole way for the fact he was running 4 minutes late as he should have left on time and I would have just caught the next bus!
So, Auckland, a harbour city in which the centre feels pretty compact and is nicknamed the 'city of sails'' due to the large amount of boats however I think 'city of hills' is much more appropriate as they seem to appear out of nowhere! There isn't a huge amount to do in the city so I've just had a walk around the harbour which looks out on lots of little islands and the water in the sun is green coloured which is pretty cool. I also met fellow Odysseyers Katie and Taylor for a pub lunch which was lovely to be able to catch up them. I will be returning to Auckland so i'll see what there is to do day trip wise later.
I have booked a hop on hop off bus ticket which goes around both islands, however its not gone so simple as the buses are all booked for the week even then I can only get Auckland to Wellington in the minimum number of days which is 5 and then only stopping off at the compulsory overnight stops for 1 night which is a shame. However I have now booked the South Island with some longer stops which will be better. It's really annoying as it means the flexible bus ticket isn't flexible at all! All the bus problems means that I would miss my flight back to Sydney so I had to change it which I have later realised has cost me more than just buying a new ticket which was a pretty stupid mistake.
To fill in the time before I head south I have booked on a 3 day tour of the Bay of Islands which I'm on now- WIFI on the bus so I'll let you know how that goes. So far it's been a rubbish start to New Zealand but I'm really glad to be here as the Australia floods have now hit Brisbane and NZ is also a little cheaper that Australia. I'm really looking forwards to some amazing scenery and some crazy adrenalin activities.
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