Sniffed out (by Lesley)

We boarded our plane to Aukland on Monday evening and had an uneventful overnight flight to New Zealand.  I got myself worked up that our food rations would be confiscated by the biosecurity inspectors but I needn’t have. The little sniffer Beagle dived its head into our picnic bag, but only because we’d had two apples in there a few hours earlier. I’ve never been ‘sniffed out’ by an airport security dog before and I felt thoroughly outwitted by the little canine customs control. His handler popped him a treat after confirming that he had correctly picked up on a fruit scent and they moved on to the next unsuspecting visitor. During the whole episode Freda and Edie kept commenting on how kind the handler was to the dog and what a good relationship they seemed to have.

There have already been many differences between here and China, not just in terms of treatment of animals. The main shock is the price of things. Charlotte warned us but I still didn’t predict a single green pepper costing £1.75/17 RMB. We have booked into the Aukland City Youth Hostel, which allows us to cook for ourselves. This evening we had pasta swirls coated in chopped tomatoes with chopped up hard boiled eggs. That’s it. Ali and I will spend the rest of the evening working out a daily budget to confirm that we can actually last 3 months. If you have any tips on cheap living in New Zealand, please send them our way.

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Snuggled up in our YHA room.