Auckland

After a 12 hour overnight flight we arrived in Auckland in the evening time. We were pretty wrecked so we didn't get to see much. We had a quick wander around, had a beer, bought some wine and went to bed. We did manage to snap a photo of the Sky Tower in Auckland before getting the Naked Bus to Hastings the next morning:

You don't actually have to be naked to take the Naked Bus - it's just a cheap way of getting around New Zealand. We had an 8 hour bus journey to get us to Hastings but with the scenery on the way, and the frequent breaks in every major town and city on the way, the time flew.

We arrived in Hastings to stay with my brother Martin and his lovely wife Catherine, along with their new baby Sam and Bodhi the dog.

After a lot of beer and even more sleep we woke today refreshed an raring to go. This didn't last long as the jetlag kicked in but we all managed to hop into Martins car and we took off to Te Mata Peak. We say Tomato, they say Te Mata. The view from there looks over Hawkes Bay (nice wine region) and was just spectacular. Here are some photos from Te Mata peak:

On the way home we stopped to have a beer (yes we drink a lot of beer) and also stopped off to a place called the Strawberry patch where you can pick strawberries if you feel energetic. We didn't, but they also do ice-cream cones with fresh berries mixed in which we indulged in. So sightseeing, beer, and ice-cream all in one day - pretty good.