The first thing you’ll become aware of when you arrive in Auckland from another country, is that there are no sheep around. No doubt you’ll think they’re simply hiding from you – somewhere there must be a sheep, right? Wrong. Auckland is just a massive city – with a distinctly British feel.

But fear not. There are indeed a huge amount of sheep in New Zealand, it’s just that the New Zealanders have tried to shake off their sheep-centric image by cleverly putting the sheep in fields miles away from their urban centres.

Auckland offers the usual blend of city related stuff – buildings, roads – things like that. Some of these buildings are called hotels and other ones are called hostels. There are a lot of hostels in Auckland, which some might regard as something of a capital city of backpacking. Some of these are very big indeed – and I stayed in one of these extra big ones.

It has been ranked 4^th in the Mercer Quality of Living Survey, so you can expect to have a good time here.

It’s really only used as either the beginning or end of a backpacking adventure. From here you can organise bus tickets southwards, and start planning what you’re going to do in this most out-doorsy of nations. There is a superb range of different landscapes to enjoy, including glaciers and a lot of volcanic pools too.

So Auckland is a great place to start your exploration of this diverse country – give it a shot!