All fell in love with New Zealand instantly, including The Hypnotist who actually liked it better than Oz! Being slightly bigger than the UK but with only 4 million people, 2 million of those in Auckland alone, it really does have an amazing feel to the place. On the weekend, the city of Auckland has a calm feeling about it. During the working week, it still has about as much traffic as a small town in England. You can drive through the city centre of Auckland in less than 5 minutes, there really isn't much to it. But what it does have is just beautiful. Everything is in easy walking distance including the harbour where all the bars are. What you get for your money in the hotels is fantastic. We had two of the top rooms money could buy in a posh Hyatt. It came complete with a modern open plan kitchen and lounge, dual 'his and hers' sinks in a bathroom which had two separate entrances to it from the lounge and the bedroom, a super king size bed, TV's in each room of the suite and a balcony that stretched across the lounge and bedroom. All this for the price you'd get a budget cramped 3 star hotel room in London. Bonus! Like the Ozzies, the New Zealanders are fairly laid back. This was evident by the way we managed to blag free car parking at the hotel every day and also by the fact that then when we checked out of the hotel, we only had to pay for about half the drinks we'd actually downed in the Hyatt bar! New Zealanders are also amazingly friendly. It's spooky when you talk to the Maori New Zealanders expecting them to have some kind of foreign accent like you would coloured people in the UK, only to hear them all talking in Kiwi accents! The English, European and Maori cultures in New Zealand all seem to live in harmony and for this it gets the big thumbs up! |
The Auckland Sky Tower was pretty high |
Not exactly Jonah Lomu |
A big red hard shaft |
The Hypnotist was keen to lose at table football |
Dutch blokes Jaco and Adrian take up the challenge |
The Hypnotist takes Adrian on at pool... England Vs Holland
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Hero plays Jaco. Having worked for years in Holland's coffee shops, Jaco whooped Hero with the amazing tricks he had learnt |
The challenge was laid out... Come visit Hero's battlefield and see how well you fare on his real fast table football |
New Zealanders Billy and Raymond demonstrate a Maori war dance
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Even Auckland has an Indian taxi driver (vhere to meyte) |
The picturesque Auckland skyline by night |
The Hypnotist's spell on Hero had gone a little wrong here |
View from the hotel balcony was as good at night as in the day |