Sunday 8th August - Rotorua - Auckland - 215Ks
Sue was again left disappointed with the rain and cloudy skies stopping any early morning attempt at her skydive . So we hit the road for the final leg of our 3.5 week trip - it poured down most of the way here. Our motel we booked on the net turned out to be about 10 doors down the road from the car rental drop-off point. We filled out the insurance claim form for the accident with the roadworks bollard - have to wait for the liability outcome - in the meantime we get stung for $1000 - ouch! In the city centre we quickly became thirsty and settled for very small beer and wine in a 'Belgian Beer Cafe'. Got lost trying to exit one of those 'global shopping centres' - one that could mean you're in any country in the developed world. Some little shits thought it would be funny to throw a carton of coke at us on the street as they drove past - needless to say we were not impressed and uttered words to the effect of 'My, what terrible chaps you are!'. We caught happy hour in Murphy's pub where Derek had his first pint of Guinness since he left home back in February. We were adamant that we fancied some nice Chinese food on the way home - so we were pleasantly surprised to find ourselves in a Turkish restaurant instead enjoying a very scrumptous meal .

Monday 9th August - Auckland
No alarm clock need this morning as the hammering and banging started early on the building site next to us. Walked to the central 'village' of Parnell which is very picturesque with many art galleries, cafes and restaurants - it sits atop a big hill with views back down towards the harbour. Sue spotted a hairdressers so we headed there to extoll her haircut memories of Singapore - the girl there said they've had to correct a few people's hair who funnily enough also had theirs done in Singapore!! Walked down by the harbourside, idled a while in a cafe before Derek decided to have his hair chopped too. The SkyCity Tower sits high above the city so we decided to head up there just before it got dark. There were fantastic panoramic views from 250m up - we were so high up that Sue has decided that she now has no more interest in skydiving!! We like the views so much that we stayed for a couple of drinks before hunger brought us to a Thai restaurant for dinner. Once again the food was superb.

Tuesday 10th August - Auckland
Another wake-up call from the 'drill sergeant' on the building site next door - Tea and biscuits for breakfast were no enough to remove the hunger pangs so we hit a local cafe in the city centre for a couple of fry-ups - Derek had black pudding included in his and got 6 pieces so he was a happy man! We stayed a while observing the dodgy hooded gang members, the busy looking police and the grey dull businessmen going about their business. Sat in an internet cafe trying to get organised for our Inca Trail trip in Peru which needs 6 weeks planning ahead. Bought ourselves a guidebook for South America and a Portugese phrase book for when we get to Brazil. Jumped on a city centre loop bus to make sure we hadn't missed anything before heading back to our hotel to wash some clothes and relax. We headed back up the hill to Parnell for a very tasty Indian and bottle of wine - all the restaurants here allow you to bring your own.

Wednesday 11th August - Awake to the sound of a ringing phone - it was Sue's parents calling for a chat. We're off to Chile today - we'll get there before we leave because we're crossing the International Date Line. New Zealand's been great but we're looking forward to new and strange languages and customs for the next few weeks before we hit the home straight in the US and Canada.