Bye bye Hong Kong, Hello Auckland

Well it is now Thursday and I haven't updated since Sunday night, but hey I'm travelling these things are supposed to be sporadic.

My Monday was pretty chilled. Christina was at work so Jo and I met up for coffee, a wander round Victoria Park, a few piccies of the Noon day gun (which we found after it made me jump out of my skin when it went off at Noon) and a walk round the human mass and chaos that is the Causeway Bay area. We soon go tired of the sheer noise and mass confusion that is the main shopping area and headed back towards my hostel to find a quiet restaurant where we could sit, eat very slowly and sup on a few beers. That made us feel a lot more human so next stop was Quarry Bay and the ZenithOptimedia offices to say a proper good bye to Christina as Jo was leaving that night and as Christina was going to be working late I wouldn't see her again before I left the next day.

After that another coffee was in order before Jo and I headed back to Central and I saw her off on the Airport train (wasn't really a tearful farewell as we knew we would be seeing each other again in a week in Auckland).

I was exhausted as I hadn't slept hugely well the night before so I headed back to the hostel, picking up some food on the way and promptly fell asleep. Had a quite dinner watching Monk and 24 on TV while eating dinner before packing all my stuff up and heading back to bed for a good night's sleep.

The next day was pretty uneventful. I checked in my luggage in the morning at the train station (love that you can do that) and pottered around some of the big malls by the waterfront. I even watched a movie (Fun with dick and Jane - well there was nothing else on in English) before heading to the airport and Auckland-ward

My flight was pretty long and boring. The plane that I was on (Air NZ) looked very 80s with only the main screens for the cabin, boy did I miss the Virgin Atlantic inflight service. Despite the lack of entertainment I couldn't get comfortable so really didn't get that much sleep. By the time we arrived in Auckland I was very happy to get off the plane and take advantage of the hiking boot cleaning service they provide as you come in to the country (who knew that my boots could present a potential bio-hazard but I did manage to bring back half of the dust from the Atlas mountains following my trip to Morocco in September, so they did need a good clean).

Sammie D was there to meet my flight, it was so cool to see her, she had popped out of the office to come over and get me which was above and beyond the call of duty! She dropped me off at the Ponsonby Backpackers where I slept for a good 5 hours before having a shower and heading over to Sam & Tom's for a nice leisurely evening BBQ and some rose.

Well that was yesterday, today I chilled out with Tom's mum Glynis as she was working on Ruth's (Tom's sister) bridesmaid dress, we had a nice spot of lunch and I headed in to Auckland to get some proper walking sandals. Job done, I grabbed a coffee and read for a while before trekking up hill back to the hostel. Am now in a store round the corner from the hostel. Should really head back, dump my stuff, give my hair a brush and head over to Sam & Tom's again for another chilled out evening.

Tomorrow I may well have a more action packed day.. not sure what I'll do but it is bound to be fab!

Sorry that I don't have any more exciting things to report but I needed a break.