NZ 31/08/08

1600 Auckland

Barry made me write this: "Thanks for resetting my watch". So there you go.

Hope you're happy.

Okay, today we went and visited Rangitoto Island. The Volcano rim is 198m high. We visited teh light house on the other side of the island. Then we went up to the rim. All in all a good three hour hike.

Oh! Catching the 9:15 ferry over, it was into the wind. Which was freezing! Made me wish that my gloves weren't in my suitcase! The temperature was around 15ºC which made for a nice walk. Got some great views of the scenery on the island and of the city from the lookout. Although soon after getting to the top my camera's batteries went flat any my spare set were in the hotel room.

Also finally got International roaming turned on my mobile. Yay! Can make calls now.

We are going to Orbit the revolving restaurant on the sky tower later this evening. It should be nice.

And Barry has just discovered that he bought a women's size glove. That's all that needs to be said there I think.

2100 Auckland

Dinner was very nice. A very reasonably prices 3 course meal. Views are great, though they do impart a mild feeling on nausea.

Tomorrow: Waitomo - Rotoroua

NZ 30/08/08

1700 Auckland

Well we arrived okay. The Jetstar flight wasn't too bad. I've had better, but I've had much worse. I'm looking at you Tiger...

The Air NZ plane was smaller than what it was supposed to be. Again, not bad. More comfortable than the Jetstar flight. We arrived 30 minutes early, must of had some good tailwinds!

Brisbane Airport is okay if a little confusing. Coming from Darwin, it seems amazing that you have to catch a train to get to the international terminal. O.o Auckland airport is quite nice.

With our hire car (we went with budget), we got upgraded from a station wagon to a brand new Toyota Prado. It had done only 17 km on the clock when I drove it out of the lot. It's frickken huge. Very comfortable. It even has a aux in for an ipod so that should keep Billy happy.

We are just having a rest for a bit before going out before having an early night to recover.

Tomorrow: Auckland

Kia Ora Everyone

Hi All.

Arrived in NZ okay, if not a little tired.

Auckland reminds me of Melbourne a great deal. Very nice weather.

Went to Rangitoto Island today. Had a good walk around. About 4 hrs in all. Going to Orbit the revolving restaurant tonight. Should be nice. In fact I have about an hour to go before I have to leave so this post'll be pretty brief.

We've done a quick shop for snacks for the road trip tomorrow down to Waitomo Caves in the morning then on to Rotorua in the afternoon. Probably about 5 hrs of driving all up.

And can you think we can find a 3.5" to 3.5" jack so we can plug our ipod/s into cd player? Rare as hen's teeth apparently...õ.o very strange.

So to was sunscreen. Hard to find. But that's may be there is very little of the body that gets exposed to the sun here on a regular basis.

Uhh, I'm keeping a better diary this time so I will probably post or edit more later.

But for now, immensely enjoying myself.

- Grover.

Countdown begins

Okay. On holidays, but still have 4 and a bit days until we leave for NZ.

I'm doing some housekeeping like doing washing, pack up some stuff that I'm not using. Tomorrow or the next I'll do a big clean.

For the Trip we just need to finalise what we are doing in between Picton and Nelson. I've found a place where we can do some stuff [here].

Looking good. Getting excited...

Tomorrow I'll also look at changing some money into NZ dollars. We're currently getting around $1.22 NZ for every AUD $. Not bad, not bad at all...

- Grover

3­·5 Days and counting.

Last week of work before I go on holidays. And Thursday is my last day for the week.

 

Woot woot!

 

Then I've got the next week off at home to take it easy in the nice dry season that we are currently having. As well as anything more that needs to be done for holiday.

 

But before that, it looks like this week at work is just goint to be pure bedlam.

 

Hopefully I have seen the last of the acquittals for this quarter which I thought I had finished on Friday. But Today was a total wright off for anything else I need to get done before I leave.

 

I still need to journal a hits load of personnel to their correct cost centres. A big job. Probably all day Tuesday. Then on Wednesday have a three hour training thing in the morning, so that just leaves the afternoon and Thursday to finish up the rest of my work and train a co-worker in some reports that need to happen while I'm away.

 

Sweet Jesus Monkey Christ!

 

This holiday had better be worth it...

 

Yes, I'm complaing about my holiday already...22 hours of work to go.

 

- Grover