Auckland, New Zealand.

We stayed in an area of Auckland called Parnell. Its a little bit up market, but our hostel was surprisingly cheap and really laid back. I felt sorry for the neighbours too - music was still blaring out past midnight while they were all trying to sleep in their expensive homes :)

There was also a great little chocolate boutique up on the main road. They seem to have these places in Australia and New Zealand - and they're really popular too. There's always a long queue, with people struggling to find places to sit. Its just like that movie Chocolat. I was really craving hot chocolate (thanks Caleb!), so I got to the front of the queue and asked "Do you have that hot chocolate that's so thick you have to eat it with a spoon?". They knew exactly what I was talking about, and I got my fix! Absolutely delightful!

New Zealand also has a great fast food chain called "Burger Fuel". It sells absolutely amazing burgers - beef, chicken, fish, vegetarian, with all sorts of weird and wonderful fillings. Very tasty. I had the CARBON SEASIDE - Cajun spiced fish fillet, sliced capsicum, plum sauce, salad, relish aioli. Yum... Check out the menu...

We didn't spend too much time in Auckland. Our flight out of NZ departs from Auckland so we plan to spend more time here when we get back from our tour around the country. Our main objective for our stay in the city was to find some form of transportation to get us around the country. We finally decided on a camper van from WickedCampers. The van is pretty basic - three seats up front, a bed which doubles as storage and a table, and a little 'kitchen' at the back. The kitchen has a small sink, an ice box and a couple of shelves to store our crockery and food. We're given a little gas stove but we have to use that outside the van, which isn't too fun in the cold, wind and rain. On our last night in Auckland we stayed overnight in our van for the first time (and gave the hostel $5 to be able to use their showers and kitchen). We slept pretty well, but realised we would need to find flatter ground next time!

Another distinctive feature of the wicked vans is how they look. This is our van:

Marty the zebra

All the wicked vans are spray painted with some sort of design or another. The first van we were offered had a load of playboy bunnies painted down the side. We refused that one! We had to wait a few extra hours for our zebra one. We've nicknamed him Marty.

The road trip starts....