Day 282 (Sun 15 Apr) - Auckland

Had a few hours sleep in between the cleaners trying to hoover around us.

Checked in at 5.15am and went through to the departure lounge.

Our Emirates flight left for Auckland at 8.45am and we were served a tasty brunch before we arrived at 1.45pm (local time - two hours ahead of OZ).

NZ has the same strict quarantine rules as OZ so as we'd brought over some spices for cooking steak we declared them. However we weren't given the chance as before we knew it a cute beadle was clambering all over Sarb.

Picked up our bags and booked some lodgings before we got a bus into the city centre. We got off at the harbour and Sarb suggested we walk to our lodging as it wasn't far. Famous last words ..... Auckland looks tiny but after forty-five minutes of struggling up and down steep roads we finally arrived at Aloe Tree Backpackers. As you can imagine Jo was not impressed, especially as her rucksack is still heavier than Sarbs.

After a bit of waiting around we finally established where our room was. What a treat we had in store - we were instantly reminded our student days. Our room was pretty grim. It was filthy, smelt funny and was freezing. By this time it was 4.30pm and we were knackered so we had a few hours sleep. Woke up at 8pm and Sarb popped to the local shop and then we went back to sleep.