all blacks ogres

another day another dollar. had a nice long sleep this morning then caught the bus downtown into the city centre.

had a good lunch down at the missions bay and caught up with andy which was great. good to hear all their news and a little of what theyve been up to, he promised to take me out on the boat whilst im here and looked up some flights for me down to the south island which was kind. its funny seeing all these guys down here i havent seen any of them, obviously, since i left england so seeing them here is a little odd. but good to catch up.

Aukland, and New Zealand as a whole, i have gathered, is incredibly green and there is heaps of water all round the city its easy to get confused. after lunch yesterday we went up to the top of mount eden which is right in the centre of town and has a 360 view of the city, it also happens to be an old volcano, which is another first for me! the views were incredible you could see for miles and i was left wonderinf if this is one of the only capital cities in the world where you can climb a volcano and see the entire city in a few short minutes. brilliant.

riding the bus from the suburbs was surprisingly interesting, i cant help but think that ther first people to discover this island were in fact american cowboys. the shop fronts all have this old rustic overhang and are topped with old fashionedc saloon style shutters and white washed wooden slated walls. it truely is an odd place, with so many new things and a mix of familarities. one thing ive seen is how completely mental the kiwis are for rugby, they have a countdown timer to the rugby world cup in the city centre and every park we drove past didnt have the classic footie posts but the rugby ones instead, schools kids out throwing the rugby ball arround and a spontaneous ruck by the swings, not to mention all the billboards featuring some large ogre looking all black who looks like he is a bit gutted about missing out on an extra role in lord of the rings sporting some new predictably black rugby kit. the all blacks must be New Zealands biggest export, maybe except lamb....

these internet cafes dont have inputs so for the imte being i cant put any photos up here...watch this space, though hopefully soon.

Ben.