Auckland

The view of Auckland from our hostel balcony

And so here we are, at our final destination in New Zealand, Auckland.  In just a couple of days we fly out of here, 14 hours to LA.  I can’t believe it’s gone so quickly.  After a 3 hour drive from Paihia (including a 30 minute stop at a mans house whilst he filled our chip in Percy’s windscreen), we arrived in Auckland.

Percy had been lucky to avoid any damage since we’d had him, but the chip in the windscreen was annoying, and whilst our windscreen repair man did a good job, we could still see the chip after he’d finished.  We were nervous about handing Percy back and so decided to do it immediately after arriving in Auckland.  After a brief shimmy through the car wash we arrived back at Ace rentals and after a quick inspection of the car we were given the all clear and sent on our way.  Olly and I could no believe our luck, effectively we’d just saved ourselves $300 which is what it would cost to replace the whole windscreen – whew, we wasted no time in leaving!

We are staying at Verandahs hostel, possibly one of the nicest city hostels we’ve stayed in.  From the verandah’s of Verrandahs the city sky line of Auckland looks stunning.  The sky tower stands tall in all it’s glory.  It’s the type of view that people would pay top dollar for in a restaurant, I bet its fantastic at New year.

The other thing we love about Verandahs is that it’s in Ponsonby, possibly the most trendy street in Auckland, teeming with funky bars and cafes it’s the place to be and be seen.  We had a day soaking up the cafe culture, whilst people watching from the open windows of cafes, it was fantastic.

Lonely planet describes Auckland city centre as a little bit grey and generic.  After spending the day there today, I can confirm that there isn’t a whole lot to do.  However some of the side streets can be pretty lively, and on a busy lunch time on the right street, you could be forgiven for thinking you’re in London.

The best thing that happened to us in Auckland was finding out that we’d won the BBH (a group of hostels out here) monthly competition!  This meant we got 23 nights accommodation for free!  Amazing.  See you in the USA!