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Our first day in New Zealand and nothing was working out the way we planned!

– We were tired after being up all night on the plane.
– It was freezing on the plane and chilly in Auckland.
– We lost a full day returning back over the date line
(Bea really wants me to write, that we’re “back to the future” 🙂 ).
– The phone SIM card was not working (thanks to Optus Australia who ‘forgot’ to network unlock our iPhone as we found out after 4 hours of excessive swearing)!
– The rental car was a piece of @#$% … and it’s not even from rent-a-wreck!
– It struck us that we hadn’t really planned much ahead for the next two months!

But the mood brightened after a good night’s sleep and we spent the next four days sightseeing in Auckland, shopping for camping equipment and ‘celebrating’ a very uneventful Christmas Eve in our youth hostel room with our miniature Christmas tree and a – not quite traditional – Christmas Döner.

Auckland skytower

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City sightseeing

“Hey there’s a sign! Let me read it … PLEASE!” 🙂

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Mount Eden

DO NOT ENTER CRATER

(the crater)

“Maybe I should walk down there?”

“Nah! Let’s take a selfie instead!”

soooo far away !!!

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North head