Auckland

Sheep, sheep and more sheep! So many sheep in this country! Every five minutes we pass a sheep farm. Theres a joke between the rest of the world and New Zealanders...well not really a joke but New Zealanders are knick named "sheep shaggers" because there are so many sheep...instead of being angry New Zealanders totally embrace this myth (or fact?!?) and they have postcards and magnets and other souvenirs with a person shagging a sheep. Crazy New Zealanders.

Oh. And a note about cows (which we've also seen a million of). They're so funny. They stand really close to the fence at the side of the road and then as soon as a car comes they run away (even though there's a fence). Then they come back to the fence and five seconds later when the next car comes they run away again. All day they do this, kinda funny.

Anyways made it to Auckland! Our bus driver said it's the most spread out/biggest city in the world, then said "at least in my world" (he's never left NZ) so I'm not sure if that's true or not. But there are only 2 million people who live in NZ and 1.5 live in Auckland so who knows. They wanted to make Auckland the capital but the south island said it was too far away and was afraid the north island would break away as its own country so they made it Wellington instead.

Oh. Our bus driver's name is Dippy by the way. He's kiwi and he's alrite. A little clueless sometimes but hey that's ok. Seems like we are with him this whole trip so we are getting to know him. He's pretty funny and has a lot of good stories! He just can't remember names.

Ok so Auckland. Great city! The main strip is called Queen street and there are loads of shops and restaurants. The waterfront is nice...a few restaurants and a museum. All the big companies (Deloitte, PWC, RBS...) have their offices here along the water. We walked around the waterfront and soaked up some precious sun, we really appreciate feeling warm now! Beautiful Harbour and bridge area.

We were there on Good Friday so all the shops and bars were closed :-/ We ate dinner with holland at a Chinese restaurant...smallest portions I have ever seen! A side dish of rice was the size of the bottom of a soda can and about one inch thick. And the sushi pieces were the size of a quarter!

We hung out at our hostel for the evening and played cards until midnite when the bars opened again. Then we wandered down to the waterfront with Dippy and our group and explored Auckland nightlife!

Next stop: Bay of Islands!