Auckland (& Snells Beach)

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After a 13 hour flight from LAX I arrived at Auckland airport at about 6 in the morning to an absolutely enormous queue at immigration which took ages to get through not to mention a similar delay going through Biosecurity which wasn't as scary as I thought it might be! Anyway a couple of hours later I was free to start making my way to the hostel I was staying at  but annoyingly I was too early to check in so had to wait for a couple of hours but eventually I got to my dorm at hostel and proceeded to sleep for good part of the day! I didn't see very much the first day apart from what I'd seen on the bus on the way from the airport! The next day I rang my cousin Michael and arranged to go and stay with him and his wife Becky for a few days. They picked me up from my hostel and took me to their house which is about an hour's drive North of Auckland at a place called Snells Beach. Where they live is quite remote really even though only an hour from the city and after spending so long in cities in the US it was really nice to have a break somewhere quiet just to rest for a few days and recharge the batteries! I had a really nice couple of days with them and Becky cooked some delicious but healthy food which was also a relief after eating so much junk food in America! Michael had to work most of the weekend but Becky took me out to lots of places in the area which was nice as it was such a pretty area. They also had a nice hammock which I enjoyed reading my book on!

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I didn't end up having long in Auckland itself, just one full day. In the morning I went to the Sky Tower, which was cool but unfortunately it was a rainy day so the views weren't as spectacular as would have been but was still worth doing anyway. I also just had a walk around some of the centre of the city but again the weather did get in the way a bit! One of my Mother's friend's, who lives in Auckland, and her family picked me up at midday and for the rest of the day they showed me around places in the Auckland area. It was especially good as they took me to places that were not so accessible without a car such as One Tree Hill and Mt Eden. Amongst other places they also took me to Piha Beach, which was quite along drive but thankfully the weather had cleared up by then. I was also very spoilt that day as was taken out for both lunch and dinner & had some amazingly good food! Even though a day wasn't long to see much of Auckland I did manage to cram quite a lot in and while it was a nice city I felt I was ready to move on and explore more of the country!