Auckland, NEW ZEALAND!

Hey hey,

We made it! We finally arrived in New Zealand (after completely losing the 20th March, - completely disappeared. Didn't live it. Slightly disconcerting)...

So we left Santiago easily enough. Met a couple of other travellers too so the banter continued. Check in easy, our bags were wrapped in lots of brown tape, to keep sleeping bags on and zips closed properly. We did look slightly strange and had obviously been on the road for a while! Security fine, flight great (apart from uncomfortable chairs). Brilliant films, great playlists of music, only problem was that I fell asleep for a couple of hours so didn't get to watch everything that I wanted to! Food was great, (although not enough), and the wine was tasty. The passenger next to me was incredibly rude (Australian), but in a joking way, so we were horrid to each other for the whole flight, and I thoroughly enjoyed that...

So we landed at about 4.15am in Auckland. Due to other flights being delayed and/or cancelled, it meant that we walked straight through immigration and customs - no queues at all! Absolutely fantastic. Had our trainers sprayed with disinfectant in the lab, declared our shells and wooden beads etc, and were safely through in as little time as possible. We caught a shuttle to our hostel, and were soon back in bed again in very comfy beds, watching a little TV...

We managed to sort out a hire car (works out at 5.50 each per day), for NZ, and generally ran errands before collapsing for a siesta. Being in NZ is very strange. Being around English speaking people is veyr weird (although still can't always understand them), and having cars on the left hand side of the road seems wrong too. We can understand the signs, and even found Starbucks, THE BODY SHOP!!!! and Borders Books.

Tap water - brilliant. So taken for granted. Still very strange that we can DRINK FROM THE TAP. A novel concept. Will save me so much money. But the one thing I'm really struggling with is the loos. In South America and Central America, you absolutely cannot put any paper down the loo, so you have to use the bin provided. Finding it very strange to put the paper in the loo again, and am stupidly paranoid that the loo is going to block... I'm sure I'll get over it soon though...!

So basically we are all settled in, and spent yesterday meandering around and saw a T-Rex called Sue in the museum - 30m high (or long, can't remember which!) So been cultural too... (in between the necessary shopping - one simply cannot get everything a girl needs in South America). We are collecting our hire car at lunchtime today, and then heading off somewhere this afternoon (not sure where yet). Internet isn't always easy to find, and calling is very difficult now as we are 13 hours ahead of the UK. But will try to keep logged in as much as possible.

Anyways, just wanted to let you know that we have safely arrived, and will write again soon!
Lots of love from us all,
Alice xxxxxx