No Sunday 25/11/07 for us ... we left Santiago on the 24 and arrived in Auckland on the 26! What a difference with South-America, here everything is brand new, clean and nice. People in shops are lovely. And.... no more Spanish, it is so much easier for us to speak English! On the first day we visited the small but pleasant centre of Auckland, large avenues, high new buildings and lots of shops. We also rented a car (NZ$32,50 per day) with Laurence being the only driver....will she manage to drive on the left?!!! On the second day we went to Devenport early in the morning with the ferry (NZ$9 return) to enjoy this peaceful and lovely area and also have a superb view on the centre of Auckland. Back in Auckland we went to the National Museum (no entrance fee but you are encouraged to donate NZ$5), we did have only a 2h to visit so we only managed to watch a cultural Maori show (explanations on the Maori culture, dances, songs and the famous haka _ NZ$20, we paid only NZ$15 thanks to our VIP card) and visit the ground floor where are exposed beautiful Maori objects, the master piece being a 25m long war canoe. We did not have time to visit the other two floors on New-Zealand history and geography. We walked back to our hostel through the lovely streets of Parnell. We picked up our car (see picture!) at 2pm and started our road trip through New-Zealand. We drove to the Coromandel peninsula through beautiful landscapes and arrived 3h later to Hahei a peaceful village on a beautiful coast. We stayed in a great hostel, the Tatahi Lodge.
