Got up early on Saturday morning so I could wander down to the farmers market in central Auckland. Having bought some very fresh and tasty fruit and veg I then headed to the Auckland Fish Market. It was amazing. A real foodies heaven. Endless cabinets of freshly caught fish. So fresh that the market didn't smell, even slightly. I didn't know what half the fish were, no matter how to cook them. I decided to play it safe and due to my limited cooking and preparation facilities I bought some tuna, scallop and veg kebab type things. I wandered back to my accommodation via the Viaduct basin area of the harbour. This is a very modern and semi-residential area that had been redeveloped for the 2003 America's Cup. It was clearly a very affluent area, made even more apparent by the 
number of huge yachts and powerboats moored in the basin. I took a few photos to email to dad as inspiration for my birthday present(!)After dumping all the food in my room I took the short walk to Parnell, stopping for some lunch. Having explored the various shops and boutiques I wandered to the impressive Auckland Museum. There are galleries dedicated to Pacific and Maori art and culture, natural history, including Auckland's volcanic past, and New Zealand's past and current involovement in armed conflicts. I could have spent days here but after a couple of hours I left and headed across the Auckland Domain to the Wintergardens. There are 2 glass houses (one hot, one cold) and a fernery. It's like a very mini botanic gardens. In the glaas houses there were huge numbers of wierd and wonderful plants, some of which looked distinctly phallic (mum would not be impressed). The fernery was practically pehistoric in nature. I half expected a dinosaur to appear form behind the plants at any second. The gardens shut at 5 so I was duely kicked out. i walked backto my room and began to get dinner sorted. When I 
took my fish kebabs down to the communal kitchen to use the grill, there was a large group of students hanging around. We got chatting and there was a mixture of Kiwi and, oddly, German students. I was soon invited for a drink. After a couple I decided to head to bed early as I was going to wake up at 1am to watch the first race of the America's Cup in Valencia. It is a national obsession here, especially when team NZ are the challengers. It was a good race but by about half way it was clear that the Swiss had the upper hand. The Kiwi's lost the 1st race but in a 9 race series they had not lost hope and TV pictures still showed them in high spirits.
took my fish kebabs down to the communal kitchen to use the grill, there was a large group of students hanging around. We got chatting and there was a mixture of Kiwi and, oddly, German students. I was soon invited for a drink. After a couple I decided to head to bed early as I was going to wake up at 1am to watch the first race of the America's Cup in Valencia. It is a national obsession here, especially when team NZ are the challengers. It was a good race but by about half way it was clear that the Swiss had the upper hand. The Kiwi's lost the 1st race but in a 9 race series they had not lost hope and TV pictures still showed them in high spirits. The following morning was a fairly early start again so I could go to the internet cafe and phone home. Then I hopped on a bus to Onehunga, a suburb to the south of the city. This is the location of Dress-smart an outlet shopping centre. It was fab, 4 tops, a pair of jeans, a piar of rip curl shorts and a bra for $120 which is less than 50 quid. Having plundered the place I headed back home feeling suitably reatil therapy-ed.
By this stage Rob and Kate wereback from the Bay of Islands. The 3 of us headed to Foodtown for supplies and I grabbed a pizza from the local takeaway on the way back. Very meaty pizza, yum! Early night as I have an early elective C-section (or Caesar as they call it here) tomorrow.
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