Days 63 to 68 - Melbourne, Auckland & San Francisco

Day 63 – Melbourne
M woke early to take Leah to the station as she was away for a couple of days on business, giving us the use of her car – thanks again Leah!
Both had a bit of a lay in. D then spent a few hours doing the blog and huge amounts of laundry whilst M sorted out our finances (ouch) and tried to get the headphones that we’d bought to work on Skype - very frustrating as they wouldn’t. Today was possibly the hottest day so far which only made things seem even worse.

Eventually we gave in and seeked refuge in the air conditioned shopping centre to buy some supplies for a Bar-B-Q dinner which included lamb back-straps – Yum!

Lazy evening back at the house, with D doing the Barbie and M phoning her granddad to wish him a happy birthday! (Happy Birthday Alec!)

Bed quite late after an evening chatting about….. stuff!

D x

Day 64 – Melbourne
Another lay in followed by another morning of sorting our stuff and packing our bags ahead of tomorrow’s flight to Auckland. Leftover sausages for lunch with a quick visit to the barbers for me. (Classic moment when a bloke sat next to me asked for his hair to be cut short on top and left long around the sides. Basically, he’d asked for a mullet!)

Then we got the train into the city, spent an hour so people watching in Federation Square and wandering around the shops. Watched some giant chess at a nearby café before meting up with Leah and Rob. (A friend from school who now lives and works in Melbourne) All had a couple of drinks in a nearby bar before M & Leah headed back for an Italian meal and a few drinks whilst Rob and I drove back to his for some beers and food at his local pub. Great night spent drinking and chatting about everything and anything.

Left Rob (who’d conveniently arranged to work from home the following morning – never was good on hangovers) to get the train back to Leah’s. Train took forever so got back around 1’ish to find M fast asleep. Night night!

D x

Day 65 – Melbourne to Auckland
Leah woke us early, around 6:20, to get the train into the city with her, where we said our farewells, before we got the skybus to the airport. Took forever to check in but had a really good flight to Auckland (about 3.5 hours) with great food and loads of leg room.

Usual routine when we arrived, M to the information desk whilst I drew yet more cash out. Straight on the shuttle bus which conveniently dropped us off right by our hostel. Pretty good room on the top floor with great views out across the city. Sun was setting so we headed straight out and went directly to the Sky Tower. (The tallest tower in the southern hemisphere) where we booked a table for dinner at The Observatory restaurant, some 200m up. We had an hour to kill before our seating time so we spent it wandering around the observation level one floor below the restaurant taking in Auckland’s beautiful harbour and surroundings. M even managed to stand on the glass floor looking down 200m to the pavement below – although she has since blocked it out and can’t remember doing it!

Dinner was great – an all you can eat seafood buffet with sushi, sashimi, oysters (which both of us thought were disgusting) and lots lots more. Both stuffed after SEVERAL visits to the buffet, we waddled back through the city to the hotel for bed. We both liked Auckland – very relaxed feel to the place.

D x

Day 66 – Auckland

Up early, breakfast at Starbucks (no surprises there!) and then walked down to the ferry terminal where we got the 9:15 ferry to Rangitoto – a 25 minute trip. Rangitoto is a volcano that was formed about 600 years ago. Got there before the heat of the day and walked the hour or so to the summit (270m above sea level).

Great views across to the city and the surrounding islands. The walk up is through fields of black volcanic rock and quite dense forest. Also stopped off at some lava caves en-route which was quite eerie! Both put our new camel packs to the test, successfully, despite them still tasting a bit anti-septicy (is that a word?) – Ugh!

Back in time for the 12:45 return ferry and grabbed a sandwich and strolled down to the harbour to people watch for a bit whilst eating our lunch. Saw the Americas Cup sailing boat and lots of other very expensive yachts. We considered doing a harbour cruise but thought we’d already seen it whilst on the ferry so decided to save our pennies!
Wandered back through the city, stopping off at Albert Park for a bit or reading, sun bathing and snoozing before booking tickets to see ‘I am Legend’ at the IMAX cinema later on that night.

Back to the hotel, power nap and then out for dinner at a nearby Japanese restaurant before the film. Both really enjoyed it – definitely made all the better because of the massive screen and great sound!

Again, wandered back to the hotel before crashing out after another long days sightseeing!
D x

Day 67 (first one) – Auckland
Lazy start, walked in to the city to find virtually everywhere closed as it was Good Friday. Finally found a really nice café tucked down a side street where we both treated ourselves to a fry-up… perfect!

Then with time on our hands before the evenings flight we strolled about for a bit – another hour so in the park. M refusing to let me lie down in peace and constantly poking and tickling me… I think she was excited about flying to San Francisco and seeing her brother!

Both agreed that as everywhere was shut, we may as well go and check in at the airport as at least that’d be open! Got the return shuttle bus and checked in 4 hours ahead of the flight. As we were so early we managed to get them to give us an extra seat so we had a row of 3 for just us – bonus!

Flight left on time so we settled back for some good films and good food – Air New Zealand are great!

D x

Day 67 (again) – San Francisco
As we flew over the International Date Line, we’d been given an extra day, so we landed 8 hours before we’d left Auckland…. Brilliant!

Despite the flight being 12 hours, it went fairly quick. M, as usual managed a healthy 6 hours sleep. I was less fortunate.

Met at the airport by Ben, wearing his shorts which was a good sign. We’d both expected it to be a bit cool but the sun was shining so things were looking good.

Back to Ben & Madeline’s flat, we had some tea, showered and then set off for a tour of the city a la Ben Dalziel. Met with Madeline in the city centre and then walked, and walked and walked, and walked a bit more, before eventually getting a taxi to a bar called 'Mars Bar' where we had some beers and played some pool. (Very American)

Mandy & Madeline spotted some little plastic eggs dotted around the pub. Curiosity got the better of them and they opened them up to find sweets and in one, a piece of paper saying ‘Zen MP3 player.’ We then found out that there was to be an Easter Egg Hunt in the pub later – having jumped the gun by about an hour we hung around till they announced it, M & M in particular, keeping a very close eye on the eggs. When the hunt was announced, they pounced on their eggs and gathered up a load more as did Ben and I. (although not with quite the same level of competitiveness as M & M)

Between us we won an MP3 player (surprise, surprise), a T-shirt, a $15 i-tunes voucher, a $100 bar tab and lots of sweeties – all in all, a good afternoons haul.

Met Madeline’s sister who gave us a lift home. Plans to go out were dashed when both Mandy and I crashed out on the sofa at about 7:30 – I think the 48 hour Friday had taken its toll!

Early to bed on a not so inflatable mattress – what a great day!

D x

Day 68 – San Francisco
Fairly lazy start after an interrupted nights sleep. The mattress had a slow puncture so every 2-3 hours we had to roll off and pump it up again. M gave up after the 2nd time and retreated to the sofa, a wise decision, whilst I persevered and woke up lying on the floor with a half inflated mattress either side of me.

Madeline had a job interview so she left us at about 11 as we set off to explore the city. Got a train to an area called Haight Ashbury. It’s the slightly alternative quirky part of town that’s left over from the seventies – very friendly with lots of characters about.

Stopped off for some Mexican food (the biggest Burrito’s I’ve ever seen – they weighed about the same as Mandy) and then wandered around Golden Gate Park (still no sight of the bridge though!) where we saw loads of stuff including a couple of baseball games. Stopped to watch them for a bit and were soon joined by some humming birds (very cool) and a rather talkative tramp who seemed to enjoy commenting on the baseball – STTTTTTRRRRRIKE! After a few minutes, we realised he wasn’t leaving so we did!

Back towards Haight Ashbury we met Madeline, whose interview had gone well. Stopped for a quick drink and then got a taxi through the city to the shore near the Golden Gate Bridge! Saw the steep rolling streets that San Francisco is so famous for and then got our first view of the bridge and the Bay with Alcatraz sitting in the middle.
Hour or so on the beach people and dog watching, playing ‘smashball’ and Frisbee. We then wandered along the beach and into an area called The Marina to meet with Madeline’s sister. The pub was rammed so we went somewhere else where we were introduced to Beer-pong!

Basically, teams of 2, trying to throw a ping-pong ball into some cups at the other end of the table which have got beer in. Once you get the ball in, the other team has to drink the beer. There were some pretty serious players there with a lot of whoopin and a hollerin! Pretty funny. Needless to say, the rookies, M and I, cleared up and thought we would beat our hosts at darts too whilst we were at it. Really good fun.

Madeline’s sister and a friend joined us for a few more drinking games before we got a taxi back to get changed before heading out for the evening. All a little worse for wear by this stage we headed out to a bar called ‘Top of the Mark’, a penthouse bar on top of The Mark Hotel where we had some drinks and danced to the live music – very classy place so obviously we fitted right in???

Then on to a Mexican place because it was the only place we could find that served food. I think we had food, though my memory gets a little hazy here, but I do remember there being Karaoke, run by an Iranian guy called Mel who seemed to want to join in with the singing – All very amusing!

Several hours and lots of singing later (complete with sombrero’s and mini guitars) we got back (not sure how) to the flat and I dare say fell asleep pretty quickly!

D x