Shalane and I have been working really hard on ticking off our lists but at the end of each day the lists are longer! I even woke up this morning having extended the list in my sleep! We've been researching places for food drops and contacting more companies for sponsorship through donation and have been shopping for a few last items, including that all important tent. I think we still have to buy a trowel for toilet digging....nice! But it still doesn't seem enough to fill a day, yet we collapse in our lovely, cosy hostel at the end of each day feeling like we deserve a holiday!
We are staying at the City Garden Lodge in Auckland, which I'm loving. We have 2 tents in the garden and use of the Granny style house with wood burning fire to lounge around in and cook. The two tents are of course a sleeping one and a storage one as Santa Clause really did arrive early! Santa Clause being my friend Paul, who has kindly been receiving and storing all our sponsorship gear over the last few weeks. I met Paul in India 4 years ago and I had been promising I'd see him in New Zealand ever since. He now lives in Auckland and took us out to dinner when we first arrived and showed us around a little. He dropped off our boxes of gear one morning including a new camera I got sent to him and Shalane and I really did look like over excited kids! It wasn't long before the boxes were torn open, clothes and hiking poles and collapsible bowls and all sorts were spread around the room. Bivouac were fantastic and sent us more than we asked for and Swazi's stuff is going to keep us warm on the coldest of nights! We later collected our stuff from macpac and had a wonderful night sleep in our new tent with new mats in new thermals! It's safe to say that we are fully kitted out! 
So trying to get past the excitement and back to the job in hand, we set to marking our our route on a map as best we can in an attempt to see if we can manage without a GPS. A question that has been going back and forth since we got to New Zealand. We've spoken to some people who have used one on the trek before but the trail has become more developed since they completed it last year, so after the discovery of a great map that actually shows the trail route (or what is completed so far) and our lack of funds, we have decided to set off without one, with the scope to buying one when we pass through Auckland if we think we need to.
After marking off the route we worked out where we might need food drops so that we can let Back Country Cuisine know where to deliver. We found businesses in the area that may wish to help us by accepting our packages and have started to send them emails, so with any luck, we will have, at least, the north island confirmed before we leave. In between work we have found time to meet up with my friend Riggers (who I met in Darwin) for dinner and we even went out last night for a cheap pizza and pint! We even dressed up and wore make up and looked like normal people. Today, we've given ourselves a well deserved day off and plan to visit the museum to learn a little bit about New Zealand and the culture!
If any of you know any way in which you can help promote the trek while we are walking and don't have internet access then all your ideas, help and support will be hugely appreciated! You will even get your name/logo (if you have one) on our websites.
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