Auckland

Auckland

So far we’ve slept a lot, drank a lot, and ate fish & chips at the oldest pub in Auckland… And bought an iPad…

NickyDay one in Orc-land.. I don’t remember too much about arriving. Me brain was a mush and it felt like someone had stuck some Rohypnol in that Lamb Curry. And so blurry eyed and greasy haired we stumbled our way through BioSecurity being meticulously checked, not for explosives and red or blue wires, but instead we were frisked and inspected for terrifying things such as soil and ham sandwiches… I have my suspicions I may have hallucinated the whole thing…

And when I’d started to take in the reality that we were suddenly revealed to be on the other side of planet earth, I opened the curtains of the hotel room to be confronted by an Independence Day style space ship casually parked up in the middle of town… No one seemed to be batting an eyelid, and so I returned to my previous theory of sleep deprivation, ignored the impending alien invasion and collapsed into a comfortable coma on the bed.

Note to self: Never fall asleep to a background movie of 28 weeks later, if you’ve gone without sleep for more than a day. It’s a sure fire way of vividly experiencing being eaten alive by your co-workers and friends. You won’t know what the f**** going on when you wake up.

Big Breakfast

Big Breakfast

Bungle in the Jungle

Bungle in the Jungle

CookieWe didn’t expect to be fighting our way through thick jungle today, only went to find the local DOC (Department of Conservation) office! Word of warning to anyone else using google maps to find it, this is where they’ve put the pin and there’s certainly no office here..

‘Includes free use of a Cat’

romeothecat

NickyIntroducing our new mate Romeo. So named apparently as he roamed over one day and decided to stay, rather like the littlest hobo ( and a little like us ) :)  Rest day today – yeeha! The best kind if day… Amazing mini apartment here at BayLinks Motel. And feels all the more homely with a free friendly cat to play with. A furry friend never goes a miss after a hard day.

Fisherman’s Platter

Fisherman's Platter

CookieIt was a 4 mile round trip to the only restaurant in town.. But worth the effort because it was also the only bar in town! Had to go for a seaside themed celebratory dinner this time. Bit too deep fried for my liking, but tasted better than the sausage I had yesterday.

Gum Diggers Cafe, Ahipara – Awesome Breakfast!

Gum Diggers Cafe, Ahipara

CookieThis bad boy is topping the breakfast charts at the moment. Sausage is still a bit suspect though.

Fishbone Cafe, nothing fishy about this breakfast

Fishbone Grill

CookieThe breakfast chart has been the hottest debated topic so far on this holiday, sadly we’ve still yet to have an evening meal really worthy of note. The Fishbone Grill pictured has just secured it’s place right at the top, not only for serving up the first proper sausage, but also for the sauce. Sauce with your breakfast seems strangely lacking over here, of both the red and brown variety. Fishbone however compliment the fry up with a lovely tomato relish and a non too picturesque, but damn tasty mushroom sauce. A wonder to behold, this is probably the best breakfast I’ve ever had! Should be though, it cost enough, $18 and that doesn’t include the coffee..

Stone Store & Kemp House, KeriKeri

Stone Store & Kemp House, KeriKeri

Kiwi’s sure know how to make a burger

Kiwi’s sure know how to make a burger!

CookieCan’t remember the name of the restaurant, but the burger was a Surfer Dude! It certainly filled a lunchtime hole, couldn’t even finish all my chips.

Hard to get hold of the hard stuff here?

Mount Gay Rum

CookieSo we’ve started to realise that in New Zealand they only sell beer and wine at supermarkets. If you want to get hold of something that packs a bit more punch for it’s weight, you have to find a liquor store. Google maps doesn’t reckon there’s that many though (maybe not all listed?) and this store in Paihia might our last for quite a while.. To be on the safe side we decided to fill our booze bag up to the max with 2l of Mount Gay Rum, should keep us going for a few days ;)