Auckland Pt II

Tuesday June 26^th – Auckland Museum / Family Dinner

The Auckland museum has five main exhibits on the following: photography, the Maori / South Pacific, a New Zealand Natural history, and on New Zealand’s involvement in various wars.  The photography exhibit was my favourite but the others were quite interesting too.  All of the photography had a nature or animal themes.  One of the sections was dedicated to photographs taken by kids of different ages.  The8 to 10 year old photos would blow my best work out of the water.  There is some serious talent here; although I wonder how an 8 year old gets his/her hands on a Canon 5D Mk III … [jealous!].

Rolls Royce Airplane Engine

We’ve been lucky to have Jeff and Jess as hosts in the city.  They graciously invited us to their Tuesday night family dinner.  Many of their friends also work in the restaurant / bar industry, which means they all work late through the weekends.  Tuesday is a common night off for everyone, so they all get together for a Family Dinner.  Jorge and Grazelle “The Mexicans” had us all over for a potluck dinner with a homeland theme.  

 

Unfortunately the southern hemisphere of this planet has not yet been introduced to Clamato juice.  That’s right, no Caesars!  So we decided to make our own.  Clamato is basically a mix of clam juice and tomato juice so all we had to do was figure out how to make the clam juice. To do this, I purchased some clams from the supermarket in town, seasoned and boiled about 2L of water.  Add the Clams and continue to boil for approx 10 minutes, then drop the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes.  Strain out the clam shells and leave in the fridge to cool.  To make the Clamato, we were mixing about 1 part Clam juice to 4-5 parts Tomato juice.   The rest of the Caesar recipe you know.   This was the Canadian contribution to Family Dinner. 

We also enjoyed beef kabobs, quesadillas, Jorge’s Don Julio Tequila, Potatoes and spiced rum from the Steph and Steve, Sangria, home made salsa and guacamole.  After filling our bellies we headed to a pub called Father Ted’s for some unnecessary karoke.  By the end of the night we were in stitches :)

The Family

Thursday June 28^th – Zoo / Anniversary Dinner

Laura and I both love animals, so we made sure to fit in a trip to see the Auckland Zoo.  The zoo is well laid out and you can follow the main path to tour through all of the exhibits.  They have many animals which were new to us, and have a whole area dedicated to plant life and animals native to New Zealand.  Highlights were the Lions, penguins, and primates.

The Tui bird - also the local beer.

Next stop was to get dressed up and head out to celebrate our 3-year anniversary.  One Jeff’s recommendation we tried out a restaurant called Soul which is located on the viaduct and with views of the harbour.  The food here was excellent and we both ate as much seafood as possible.  On the menu was a hearty sea food chowder to start, and then lobster ravioli and a Hapuku steak.   Happy 3-year Anniversary Laura!

Friday June 29^th – Albert Park & Food Alley

After several late nights of celebrating, we needed a relaxing day.  The morning was spent working on the last blog post and doing some laundry in our Hotel.  Jess was working for most of the day, so Jeff, Laura and I met for lunch at a little Italian place called That’s Amore.  They specialize in authentic Italian style Pizza with hand made thin crust.  Another excellent choice by the Stoy’s.

Near That’s Amore is a small park called Albert Park where we went for a stroll

 

For dinner, we were introduced to a little place called Food Alley.  This is a small food court style dining experience that one may have normally walked by on first glance.  Inside you can purchase your drinks from the Alley Cats, and then you have your choice of many different international food vendors such as Indian, Thai, Vietnamese, Mongolian, Turkish, Chinese etc.  We tried out Indian Spice and destroyed a ton of garlic naan bread, butter chicken, korma chicken.  Great food, and very affordable.

St. Patrick's Park

Food Alley

Spicy Indian - great for breakfast too!

Saturday June 30^th – Waiheke Island / Wine Tour

Jeff and Jess booked a weekend getaway for us to an island near Auckland called Waiheke (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waiheke_Island).  They’ve been a couple times already, so checkout their blog; http://inescapableus-jj.blogspot.com/ for some more pictures and information.  To get there we took the 45min Fuller’s Ferry from Auckalnd, and then rented a car to get around the Island on the first day.  The bus service around Waiheke is also very good, so keep that as an option if you’re visiting. 

We visited several of the public beaches including: Sandy Beach and Onetangi Beach.  The island was pretty quiet and did not have to fight with any crowds.   The sand is nice and would be great for lounging during the summer.

"Carry Me"

Next stop was to check in at the Onetangi Beach Hotel.  Jeff had booked us a night here and it was a great choice.  We had a large 2-bed suite on the top floor of a group of Villas.  King size beds were a plus, and the wrap around patio was well used.  From all the rooms we had views of the Onetangi beach.   If you’re staying here in the winter, remember to turn on the electric blankets about 30min before bed!

We had planned on visiting a vineyard / brewery called Wild on Weiheke but unfortunately they ended up being closed for a couple weeks.  We ended up next door at a winery called Te Mota Vineyard and had a great time anyways.  This winery offers two blended of red wines which we were able to taste.   Their restaurant is called “The Shed” and we stayed for lunch … once again, amazing food.  On the menu was pan fried snapper, grilled flat iron steak, pork trotter, and hawkes bay lamb rump:

For dinner we headed to the Charlie Farley’s in Onetangi.  We were lucky to get a table, so make reservations.  The four of us killed a couple bottles of Waiheke wine and ate like kings.   We had the fish and chips, a pork cube, and their spaghetti and meat balls:

Night Time moon halo

Sunday July 1^st – Waiheke Island Beach Day / Wildfire Dinner

After sleeping in, the four of us tried out the Beach Front diner for brunch.  Try out their smoothies J  We then took a long walk along Onetangi beach and then packed up for the Ferry.   For dinner, Laura and I headed to Jess’ restaurant, Wildfire, to try out their all-you-can-eat Brazilian.  I was successful in eating parts of roughly 16 different animals.  They were delicious.   Many of the Auckland “Family” work at wildfire and they left us a nice card on our way out.   We will miss you all, and hope to keep in touch!

Monday July 2^nd – Leaving Auckland, Bus ride to Hamilton to see Maxine and Vaughn

We packed up our bags and said our final good byes to Jeff and Jess.  It was a sad day leaving Auckland, but we are getting excited to start the next leg of our trip.  Next stop: Hamilton to see Ivor’s Cousin Vaughn, his wife Maxine, and their daughter Nicole.

Here are a couple good websites if you’re in Auckland:

Inner City bus schedules – http://www.maxx.co.nz/

Intercity Bus Schedules – http://www.intercity.co.nz/   Very affordable method to travel between cities in New Zealand

Fullers Ferries – www.fullers.co.nz/ .  Ferry schedule between Auckland and the nearby islands.