Wed Aug 31. To Auckland

At ten past ten today we left home.  Our holiday has really begun!  A great feeling.  We arrived in Auckland and were dropped off in a park where I felt the need to relax for a few hours - I actually slept on the grass for a bit, I was so tired from last-minute packing and organising things.  On the map it looked like it should be a nice park as it was bounded by water, but it turned out to be a rather ugly piece of flat sports ground with a few dried-up conifer trees and lots of rubbish.

We walked along the road conspicuous with our packs on and  I hoped no-one would ask us what country we were from as I felt like an impostor.  I suggested to N that we put on fake accents and we experimented with a few as we walked. My pack rapidly became very heavy and I began to feel very tired and hot and wondered why I had packed so much clothing!  I am going to be carrying this around for two and a half months so I'd better get rid of some or get used to it!  

We finally arrived at our friend's house and this evening were treated to a lovely chicken and salad meal of:

Mixed mesclun salad greens tossed with thinly sliced yellow and orange sweet peppers, baby tomatoes and pieces of avocado plus a cooked and cooled mixture of sliced red onions, brown sugar and balsamic vinegar.  This was topped with sliced hot chicken breast quickly stir-fried and drizzled with a garlic and oil olio and garnished with a whole strawberry (with its green top still on) sliced almost all the way through and fanned out.  As Zoe would say: "Yum, malicious!"