Day 7 - Acclimatisation to Auckland

I’ll be honest, I now really have no idea what day or time it is!

The flight from Singapore to Auckland was very undramatic. I had a middle seat, which was a bit annoying, but got a decent amount of sleep, listened to podcasts and watched quite a few episodes of The Big Bang Theory.

We landed slightly early, and the route through the airport was straight-forward - even biosecurity, which scared me a bit!

A friendly lady at the information desk pointed me in the direction of a bus heading to the CBD, and that too was super straight forward, dropping me off right by the SkyTower and just a couple of hundred metres from my hotel.

One thing I had not prepared for was Auckland being quite hilly - I did have to hold onto my wheely suitcase quite tightly as I went downhill to the hotel! My room wasn’t quite ready (and bad news - the hotel swimming pool is out of order for maintenance this week), but that gave me time to go out for a lovely brunch (blueberry pancakes - nom!), and then a short walk including some geocaches.

I then returned to my hotel, and was DELIGHTED to find that my apartment (it really is an apartment rather than a room) is insanely lovely. I have a living room, and a kitchen, and a washing machine and tumble dryer, and a very comfy bed!

I then settled down onto the sofa to watch Game 7 of the World Series, and must say that my baseball-loving-heart is broken. It was an incredibly tense game that the Jays really should have won… but didn’t. I imagine that this is how the New Zealand cricket fans felt after the 2019 cricket World Cup final. It was pretty gut-wrenching stuff.

After the game I had a nap and a bit of admin time - unpacking, doing some laundry and the like, before having a catch-up phone call with Dad and Matt.

I shall start exploring the city properly tomorrow (which, I am told, is Monday), after what is hopefully a good night’s sleep. Bon nuit!

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