Monday 23rd June
The last of the quarter-final matches – Italy versus Spain – got me out of bed at another early hour, and it was starting to become a bit of a chore to be getting up at 06.30 when I didn't really have to. But, I wanted to watch the football while it was on and it wasn't a long way to walk to the common room to watch it. Unfortunately, it was one of the duller games, not surprising considering it featured an Italian team that were playing a terrible style of football. I don't think anyone – apart from the Italians themselves – were disappointed to see Spain beat them on penalties and set up a semi-final with Russia. Some of the French who were staying there voiced their approval, still bitter after the defeat in the World Cup Final of 2006.
It was another lazy day about the hostel. I felt like cooking up some decent food so spent the afternoon making some chicken and chilli sauce. It took a while to make but it was very tasty and I had enough food to last me for a few days.
Jo Ann was was scheduled to fly back to the US later in the evening but her flight was put back on several occasions and she waited about the hostel for a while. We had a good chat about a lot of stuff; she was older than the average backpacker but she was really good fun and we had a lot to chat about. I was looking forward to leaving Auckland myself and continuing my journey through New Zealand. I went to bed looking forward to at least getting to see a doctor again, and I hoped to get some good news at the hospital the next day.
