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It always feels so lovely to come home after being in the big smoke.

Auckland's okay and I would certainly recommend it to anyone visiting New Zealand but it's not home.

I flew up to Auckland on Thursday afternoon and got home yesterday (Sunday) afternoon. I had a great few days...I was working but it's a great part of my job - welcoming volunteers into New Zealand and showing them the sights.

I was very brave (or stupid...I can never tell the difference!) and drove in Auckland for the first time...not only that but I was driving a 12 seater mini van (also for the first time) and I am pleased to report no crashes or even scrapes. I had to drive on the wrong side of the road to get in a supermarket carpark and then had a couple of minutes panicking that the van wouldn't go under the height barrier but it all came right in the end...phew!

We did the usual sights and despite already having hundreds of photos from Auckland attractions I still took more!
The top photo is the Auckland sky line taken from Devonport (my first visit - it's really cute and reminds me of little English coastal towns in the middle of summer holidays) and the second photo is taken from the Sky Tower looking down.
As well as seeing the usual sights, me and my boss also took a stroll round Viaduct Harbour to see the Louis Vuitton boats....we were also lucky enough to be in the same bar as Brad Butterworth (although some New Zealanders may deem that unlucky from what I've heard!) but didn't get close enough for photos or autographs.

So a good weekend but very tiring - I was up at 5am on Friday and 5.30am on Sunday and didn't sleep all that great knowing I was away from home and having to be up early.
We have a 3 day weekend coming up though so I will have plenty of time to relax at the end of this week. It's Waitangi Day. No plans at this stage other then relaxing and hopefully enjoying the sunshine.

Have a good week :-)