Auckland & Spookers

Auckland has been treating us well so far! Neither of us realised, but in New Zealand it is a legal requirement to keep your shop closed on Good Friday (as well as Easter Sunday). So we went into the city for some shopping on Friday, and it was a bit like a ghost town. The only shops that can legally open were souvenir shops, but they were all pretty tacky so we didn't buy anything. Instead, we headed back to the holiday park to cook an awesome lunch of couscous, chicken and spinach in pitta breads. It was nice to be able to use a proper kitchen at the resort, instead of the single stove we have in the back of the camper. As it was raining, our food was followed up by a trip to the cinema to see the new Fast and Furious film (more for my benefit than Izzy's, but she seemed to enjoy it).

Last night we went to a haunted horror/theme park known as 'Spookers', which was about an hour's drive south of the city. From what I had read online it was going to be pretty scary, and they were right. I've never come across anything like it in England.

Spookers is set in a closed and run down phsyciatric hospital, and is only open at night. While in the queue for tickets, 'scare' actors in full movie style, gory prosthetics walk around you. Our first encounter of the night was a guy with his face gashed up, bleeding all over himself who grabbed Izzy by the shoulder and held a pretend (but very real looking) knife to her neck. Once inside, we walked around the building in near darkness and through different themed rooms. The actors hide in shadows and behind curtains and doors all over the place and jump out at you when you least expect it; they grab your legs and neck. Some of the themes included a man covered in blood holding a machette in a room filled with body parts, another was a psychiatric patient sat in a corner shaking. We had to creep past him to get to the exit from the room, just as we thought we had passed him he started jumping and screaming right behind us. At one point we were walking down a narrow corridor in pitch black darkness, with one hand on the wall to guide us, while someone from above tried to grab us. It's hard to explain it without making it sound completely not scary, but it genuinely was! I couldn't take any photos, but here are a couple from their website...

Today we have been in the city checking out the shops, I didn't really spend any money as we don't have long left travelling and it would be nice to get home with a small amount of money for the summer, but Izzy picked up a few small things here and there. It was nice to be outside as it was probably the hottest day since we have been in New Zealand at around 25degrees celsius.