It's a good life

Today we took the camper van back to the depot, it was a bit sad as we really have enjoyed every minute of the camping lifestyle. We are now staying in a hostel right in the centre of Auckland, it's really strange being back in a hostel with lots of scrotes with no money living on jam sandwiches. Luckily for us it's only one night.

Taking the van back was a bit stressful as there are so many things that they can charge you for when you return it, i.e the toilet not being empty, the over flow tank not being empty, the inside being dirty, and marks inside/outside the van and so much other detailed stuff. Thankfully we hadn't had any bumps or scrapes and we returned the van in tip top condition so we got our full deposit back, which means we wont have to come home early ;o)

We haven't booked any accommodation for Fiji were just going to wing it, after all whats the point in being independent travellers?!?! We have looked at a few of the resorts though and have an idea of where we want to stay which is probably the Yasawa Island. A lot of people go island hopping and stay at different resorts for a couple of days at a time, but we can't be bothered to spend time on boats and packing our stuff up so were just going to find a decent resort and chill out for the duration.

Tonight we are meeting Kirsten (Steens sister) so were looking forward to that, we're going for a few beers and hopefully a curry of some description.

So to summarise NZ, it really is a beautiful, friendly and laid back country, their hospitality knows no bounds. Everybody wants to chat and find out where you're from, where you're going and to tell you of great things to see and do here. The scenery is amazing, you can't drive anywhere and not take in some mountainous peaks, stunning coast line or a few thousand sheep along the way. They have an excellent standard of living, great pubs and restaurants and it is considerably cheaper than the U.K, although the cost of living over here is rapidly on the increase. It is certainly a place where we both feel we could one day live and integrate into the NZ lifestyle and culture with no difficulty.

Who knows maybe when we're 65!!