Auckland - City of Sails

The city housing a third of New Zealand's population with more yachts per capita than anywhere else in the world, the first stop on our 2 month trip through the country.

We landed at 4 in the morning and after passing through immigration and the bio-police, who checked if we'd cleaned our shoes properly, we bought coffee's and hopped onto the bus into town. A friendly driver telling us a couple of things that we should do while in the country made for a refreshing change.

After our marathon journey via Sao Paolo and Santiago we were pretty tired and after having not slept too well in a chair that I didn't fit into, I was walking around like a zombie. To make matters worse the guide on our free tour of the city was a hyperactive Canadian with a fetish for dolphins. The tour showed us the main attractions which we explored on foot the following day. On the way from One Tree Hill to Mt. Eden (2 of the 48 volcanoes on which Auckland sits) we came upon a rugby festival which proved to be thoroughly entertaining, and even though I'm not convinced about the idea of the teams downing champagne before the game, the rugby was of an amazing standard.