Thursday 21st March – Day 1 Mark and Wendy were booked on Qantas, business class no less, and we were on the Air NZ flight out of Sydney. During our flight, we were offered a glass of water and a cup of coffee. Meals apparently had to be booked and paid for as an additional cost. We felt ripped off and should have gone Qantas instead. The flights landed within a few minutes of each other and we met up in the airport to get the hire car, which was a gold RAV4. Mark delighted in telling me about their four course meal, wine and great service. They also received two full size bottles of wine as a gift when they disembarked. In all fairness though, I was offered a second glass of water on my flight. We drove into Auckland and checked into our accommodation at the Chifley Apts and then went for a walk down to the Auckland Viaduct and harbour area. We saw the impressive NZ entrants for one of the past Americas Cup yacht races and as it was getting towards dinner time, had a meal at an Italian restaurant overlooking the water.

It was very nice. You soon realise that Auckland is a hilly city when you have to walk to where you want to go.

Friday 22nd – Day 2 We squeezed into the Rav 4 and left Auckland this morning driving the short distance to Devonport where we had coffee and walked up the hill to Mt Victoria. This is an active volcano site and was also an artillery placement in earlier days. Mt Victoria provided a nice view of Auckland’s waterfront landscape. Off again as we headed towards our next destination at Club Paihia in the Bay of Islands, where we would be staying for the week. We were co-erced into stopping at a few shopping malls along the way. A lunch in the pub at Waiwera was a good stop on the way, though. We soon came to realise that there are lots of Maori names on the north island. We finally arrived at Club Paihia, and after quick look around and a quick settling in, we had a walk down to the pier and had a nice dinner in a cafe on the jetty.