Travel day was a bit of a beast…shorter dubai leg oddly proving to be the worst thanks to world’s loudest family in row in front. Fascinated that two small children could scream at the tv screen for almost 6hrs straight. Exceptional contraceptive advice – thoughts are with all parent readers at this time. Sought solice in rewatching series 12 of Curb your Enthusiam and never felt more Larry in my life.

Result on the 16hr Nz leg, half empty plane (who’s flying dubai to nz on a random tuesday after all!) and got an entire row to myself! Could stretch the legs out, cry at “The Wild Robot” undisturbed, and even got some sleep. Company was courtesy of the lovely Fau, in front, who bizarrely had been sat next to me on leg 1! Swapped horror stories of hideous first leg and talked tales of adventure. Hope to catch up later in the trip as she will be travelling the country too. Swapped Instagrams in true millennial style and waved bye for now. God speed beautiful lady. Hope to catch you soon.

Arrived in Auckland to tropical cyclone Tam, who has decided to grace the city with its presence pretty much til I leave next week. Never mind free blow dry waiting for the airport bus, I was nearly decapitated at the stop! Mental scenes and unsure what will mean for the week ahead. But glad to be on solid earth and only the small matter of trying to stay awake for another 13hrs to contest with!

Arrived at lovely apartment hotel opposite Albert Park in the CBD district and after testing Claire’s excellent scientific beat the jet lag theory (staring at brightest part of the sky in outside space for 15 mins to reset circadian rtythm) me and my partially burned retinas wandered the hills around downtown. As beloved Petula Clarke always says “you can always go, Downtown” so I “listened to music of the traffic in the city” for a bit, got ice cream, because I might be on the other side of the world but it’s always time for ice cream! And decided booze was going to be my friend in my one woman mission to stay awake.

To the Sky Tower!

Given the dogshit weather predictions, thought given a clearish day, the Sky Tower was a good shout. $40 minimum spend at window seat of scenic bar on level 51 or $45 viewing platform ticket for level 52 a no brainer. Bring on the gin! It’s a champagne bar up there so I plumped for a Kir Royale, as I made an important promise to a special pal to keep drinking these around the world for the both of us, plus I’m closer to cheers him when I’m 328m high. Miss you always, Chris.

The swaying at the top in the storm was no joke! Like being at sea but upsettingly high and mid cyclone. Assured of safety and clung to the table hoping for the best. Charming barman Isaac let me through the emergency exit for a free loop round the viewing decks at level 52 and 53 as all the city lights were coming on and watched Auckland fade in twinkly speckled darkness – cheers to him, a lovely bonus for a very jet lagged lady.

The next few days were a mash up of dodging the rain and making the most of activities around the city, having diverted out of town adventures to early next week when the weather (hopefully!) improves.

In idiotic news, i’d sort’ve forgot Easter was a universal concept so had to adapt to loads being closed for most of the weekend and accept that a huge chunk of people leave the city for the long weekend. I plumped for a trip to The Easter Show on Good Friday as one of the few things advertised as running in town. Toloa from Samoa (i know!) was my Uber driver to Auckland Showgrounds. Heavy contender for worlds nicest man, 78 and very wise. Reminded me of the smiley, wrinkled Grandmother in Coco, entertained with stories of learning English and his Samoan roots on the drive. Best part about travel for me is undoubtedly the people you meet along the way.

Turns out the Easter show is utterly terrible! Imagine an old, grubby car park carnie fair which looks baron and unsafe at the same time. I was expecting Ricky Baker pop out at any moment and scam me into losing cash on hook a duck.

Though tragic petting zoo attraction did feature this guy…

Wandered politely for less than half hour, before resorting to a “what’s nearby, Google” salvage mission.

Answer: Cornwall park and the One Tree Hill summit.

So I took full advantage of break in the rain and the 12 steps of yesterday and headed for a lovely walk round this gorgeous, sprawling city park and decided to tackle the summit hike. Very mini, albeit pretty vertical, 1hr hike through the park and up, but a lovely scenic one promising great views across Auckland.

Wind very much at my front but grateful of the breeze. Made it to the top with all the grace of a weezing bull mastiff and enjoyed the views. It was 91% humidity on Good Friday, but perservered as figured jesus went through worse…and said a quiet prayer for my poor hair. It’s bringing back sweaty upper lip alert memories of Singapore travels so trying to maintain what decorum I can is proving tricky. Not ideal for bring back 6ft 5 handsome kiwi man in suitcase plan!

Really lovely walk through Cornwall park after, saw just some of the sheep that outbumber people 5 to 1 here in New Zealand, the native tree arboretum, and some good old fresh air in my lungs. Did wonders to perk me up after travel lag and am glad I made the effort to go.

Invited out by some lads I met in the lift for Good Friday drinks (given windswept state of me not only nice but a miracle!), but massively lagged by the evenings still and the thought of going OUT at 10.30pm was too much for day 3, so I antisociallly ate popcorn in my apartment and watched the Property Brothers #tripofalifetime

My religious experience of the weekend was courtesy of a Steak, Stout and Cheese pie at Pie Rolla. Nz know how to do Pies and I’d heard rumblings of this place before I even arrived in Auckland. So I made the pilgrimage to a newer part of town in search of the goods. And boy did it not disappoint. Quick shout out to my hatred of viral food locations which led to me having to eat an entire pie at 11am before they sold out! Opened at 8am. Whoever is eating a steak pie at 8am should be given some sort of role with  political influence, they’re doing life better than us. Simple as.

I will be dreaming of that pie for a long time. ..will have to see if the South Island cities can match up…for scientific research purposes of course.

Next stop was a visit to Rugby Mecca, Eden park for their famed stadium tour and a glimpse into All Blacks life. And because I am my father’s daughter this was a must on the Auckland list.

Excellent tour conducted by John, a Mount Eden local who has been going to games at Eden Park since 1963. Sat at Dan Carter’s dressing room locker, managed to touch the hallowed turf and left stuffed full of knowledge about the stadium. A really brilliant 90 minutes of behind the scenes wandering and peering into a slice of rugby (and cricketing) history.

Proudly navigated the Auckland public bus system back to the CBD district and swung by the Auckland Art Gallery to end the day #Highbrow #cultured #sorainy #itwasinsideandfree

Had a brief Happy Easter facetime with the family as I was going to bed and they were having 11am coffee and hot cross buns. Then it was a mouthful of mini eggs and bed before a 5am alarm for Hobbiton tomorrow.

Bring on The Shire!