The Great Glass Elevator

Thursday, February 10, 2005
Auckland, North Island, New Zealand
We chilled out in Otorohanga for rather longer than planned as it was about the only non-rainy place for miles; maddeningly the South Island had perfect weather! So this left us with only one night before our arrival in Auckland, which we spent in a stunningly located if slightly grubby surfie hangout in Raglan, sleeping in a converted railway carriage and listening to a skate-park entrepreneur from the States who is really rather embarrassed about where he's from. All good fun.

And then it was into the mayhem of NZ's busiest city; walking down urban Queen Street the whole rural NZ experience seems like a dream. The mountains, the wildlife, the sea, the forests and the empty road; hard to believe we're in the same country.With four days until our flight and no possibility of extension in the excellent City Garden hostel, no 1 priority was to jettison our faithful servant, Bluesmobile II. So Andy went round the central city hostels with posters while I drove round the outlying ones, reading the map at regular stops and dodging Auckland's murderous traffic, real-take-no-prisoners stuff. (not a good idea to do this at rush hour!) This is a hot and hilly city so it was rather hard work, but it paid off as we had a sale within 36 hours without having to sit at car markets. (we're still getting calls, all hail the tolerant host on reception). Selling a car in February is certainly a lot easier than it was in May.

To celebrate we went back up the Auckland Skytower, the highest building in the Southern Hemisphere at 322 metres. This now features glass floors in the lifts (as well as glass walls) so that was fun, and we also sneaked into the revolving restaurant for a further gawp. Andy went to volcanic Rangitoto island but I figured I'd done enough lava walking in extreme heat for one trip!so we have one more day in NZ and then it's on the plane to another great harbour city, Sydney. It's been as much fun as last time and there are still bits we haven't seen, so we'll be back.


Meantime it is now exactly one year since our first arrival in NZ, so our hostel discount cards have run out and it is definitely time to go! Back in the UK on 16th March and hope to see you soon. Next despatch from Sydney; can we beat the Global Challenge yachts to Darling Harbour?
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