The Viaduct

It was a beautiful day out the other day, so I took a walk down by the water to the Viaduct Harbour. This is an area where there are a bunch of bars and restaurants right near the water. It was pretty to just walk around. Not much to say about it, but here are some pictures:

Dinner at the Skytower!

The Skytower is the icon of Auckland and, at 328 m high, is the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere. (To put that into perspective, the Empire State Building is 381 m at the top floor, and 443 m including the pinnacle.) BUT, since the high rise buildings in Auckland aren't really that tall, the Skytower really stands out and is very noticeable. You can pretty much spot it from most places in the city.

So, last night a group of 11 of us decided to go up to the Skytower to see the observatory floor and to have dinner at the revolving restaurant (appropriately named 'Orbit'). It was a very enjoyable evening. We made our reservations as early as we could (5:30) so that we would be up in the Skytower to enjoy the views while it was still light out and also to see it at night, with the whole city lit up. We took the elevator up to the main observatory floor (a section of the elevator floor was glass, and it was cool to look down). We had a great view of the city and got to watch the sunset as well. I kept snapping pictures of pretty much the same thing since the lighting was constantly changing. Here's a progression of the sun setting:

I really enjoyed having a bird's eye view of this city that I have been walking around in for the past 4 months. We spotted our apartment building and campus and all of the places that we walk around - it was really an interesting experience!

You could walk the whole 360 degrees around the observatory floor, and some sections of the floor were glass. Here's me standing on the glass looking down:We were pretty high up!

We also got to watch someone jump off the Skytower! They do this thing called the "Sky Jump," which is kind of like base jumping while being attached to a wire. You get an 11 second free fall (going about 85 kpm), but then they slow you down to a smooth stop at the bottom (so no bouncing like bungy jumping). We had an interesting vantage point, because the person was suspended right in front of us and then dropped.

Here's a video of the guy doing the Sky Jump: (I didn't think when I took the video that I shouldn't take it vertical, so you'll just have to turn your head to view it!)

After a half hour of enjoying the view and taking pictures, we headed to the restaurant to eat. The kitchen, elevator, bathrooms, etc. were all in the center part, which did not rotate, and]the tables were all located on a platform that did rotate. It was a fun experience. We ordered off an a la carte menu, but as long as everyone spent over $30, the elevator ride and trip to the observatory were free. Since the main courses all ranged from $25-$35, this was not difficult to accomplish. The food was really good too, so I figured that if you went to a nice restaurant, you could easily spend $30 per person, but here, we were getting a nice meal, plus an amazing view, an elevator ride, a trip to the observatory floor, and we got to eat in a revolving restaurant! Not bad at all, if you ask me!

Now I know New Zealand is famous for its lamb, but I've only had it twice since I've been here. Once was on the Loyola Taupo/Rotorua trip, where I had grilled lamb chops and the other time I bought lamb loin at the grocery store and cooked it myself. Both times it was very good. So, I figured that since I was at a nice restaurant, I would get lamb again. I was very happy with my choice because it was delicious. It was lamb tenderloin served over mashed potatoes, with a tomato, rosemary and kalamata olive compote. Kelly ordered the fish special, which I got to taste as well: red snapper with a tomato and caper salsa served over corn risotto. Everything was just delicious and I wish I could have had a sampler plate with several of the main courses because they all sounded so good!

We had a funny experience with the waiter. This was a nice restaurant, and I guess most people would probably order an entree (they call starters entrees here) AND a main. We, being cheap college students, were splurging enough just for the main meal. So Timm ordered first and ordered pasta as his main. Then, the waiter said "And to start?" and Timm thought that he HAD to order a starter as well. So he switched his pasta to be as a starter and then ordered salmon as his meal. But then as everyone else ordered, Timm realized that he wasn't required to order two courses and he changed his order. But somehow it got messed up and the waiter still brought him a starter! The waiter was reluctant to take it back and Timm felt really bad. The manager even came over to apologize to Timm. It was pretty funny!

Afterwards, some people went to the casino in the Skytower right from dinner. I went back to Empire with some of the boys (I wanted to change out of my heels!). Then, a little later on I walked back to the casino with TK and Gina and met everyone else there. I'm pretty sure that this was the first time I have ever been to a casino and I decided in about the first minute that it's not a place for me! Since I was there, I wanted to try something just for fun, so I put a $2 coin into the cheap slot machines and played a couple of games. Of course, I didn't win anything. Some people lost a good amount of money playing the tables. Not that I ever really thought otherwise, but this experience confirmed the fact that I am definitely not a gambler.

When everyone had had enough of the casino, we went to Empire Taverns to hang out for a bit. There was a nice cover band playing so we stayed there for a bit and then went to Denny's to get dessert. (Yes, there is a Denny's in Auckland.) I was pretty hungry, since even though the food was really good at the Sky Tower, the portions weren't all that large. So, I ordered pancakes a la mode, which completely hit the spot because I couldn't decide whether I wanted to order breakfast or dessert. It started raining while we were eating, so we stayed for a little while to see if we could wait out the rain, but it didn't seem to be stopping. Most people took a cab home, but TK, Gina and I decided to brave the rain and just walked back. We all had a very nice night!

Auckland Zoo

As I think I mentioned, a couple of weekends back we went to the zoo. There's not TOO much to say about it - we basically went and spent the day looking at the animals! (Unusual for a zoo, right?)

But it was a fun day, and I definitely enjoyed Auckland's zoo. It was a lot larger than I thought it would be, but we pretty much spent the whole day there and got to see a lot. My favorite part was that most of the animals were not caged in as they would be at a zoo at home. They weren't running around the zoo or anything, but they were in mostly open spaces. It seemed like the zoo really tried to make the surroundings seem like the natural habitats of the animals. In most cases, the animals were just separated from the people in such a way that they couldn't get out, but we could still view them. (I'm not totally sure I'm making much sense here, but I'm just trying to say that they seemed less caged than other zoos I've seen!)

Anyway, here are some pictures from the day (Oh, and you might notice that these pictures are a bit larger. I'll make the pictures this size from now on!):


Gazelles relaxing: And the rhinos were in the same area as the gazelles, all roaming around together:
The giraffes were in the in the "Grasslands" section:
Here's a sea otter. They were really cute when they swam:

And a meercat...I think:
This big turtle thing is actually a Galapagos Tortoise:
We saw a whole orang-utan family! The baby was so cute! He climbed up onto a little wooden platform and then fell over and rolled down the hill.
This elephant has a lot of hair!

Lazy Sunday

Yesterday was a very enjoyable day for me and even though it was not super eventful, since it was so relaxing for me, I'm going to write about it for myself to remember! (Plus, maybe this will show that despite my posts, we're not doing something extreme or exciting every waking moment, but we still enjoy ourselves.)

So, yesterday morning, I actually slept in without setting an alarm. This was probably the first time I have done that in at least two months. After waking up well rested, I showered and got ready. I had told Nick and James the night before that I would make them french toast, so they came over so I could make good on my promise. I had a piece myself and they seemed to enjoy it, so I was happy about that. I wouldn't want to serve them anything that wasn't up to par!

Right after "breakfast" (a term I use very loosely because of the time), a group of us went grocery shopping at New World. Now, grocery shopping can be quite an ordeal here. There are really only 2 big supermarkets that are easily accessible: Foodtown, which is a good 20-30 minute walk (depending on who you walk with and how much stuff you are carrying!) and New World, which is a big farther away, but offers a free shuttle Thursday through Sunday. Because the New World shuttle picks us up right outside of Empire Apartments, I usually opt to go there.

However, the way the shuttle schedule works, you have either 30 minutes to shop (which is a pretty tight squeeze since the checkout lines are usually rather slow) or an hour and 30 minutes (which is too long and you have to hang around doing nothing while waiting for the shuttle). So lately, we've been playing our own "Supermarket Sweep" when we go shopping. Everyone has their lists ready and we run through the supermarket trying to get everything we need and get through the lines in time. We all meet back on the shuttle, and if you were too slow and missed it, you are out of luck and get left behind! (I once ran through the parking lot to catch the bus before it pulled out, only to find out that it was just turning around and not actually leaving for another few minutes. My friends who were already on the shuttle got a good laugh out of this!) Anyway, yesterday our group all made it back on the shuttle in time. James accidentally left one of his bags at the checkout and the driver even waited for him to run back inside and get it.

When we got back from the store, Lynn, Caitlin and I headed over to campus to try to watch a movie for our English class. Since it was a Sunday, however, the doors were locked and we couldn't get into the building without a special access key that we didn't have. So, we just walked back to Empire.

There is a cafe downstairs in the lobby that was open the first couple of days that we got here but has been closed ever since. It just reopened as a new place this week. So, Lynn, James, Kim, Caitlin and I decided to go there for dinner. The menu is a little on the pricey side for what they offer, but the food is pretty decent. However, I got what we have named "The Timm Special": a cheese pizza. Now, if you want to know why a plain pizza would have this name, it's because Timm worked his magic and got a cheese pizza to be entered into the computer system for only $5! The two pizzas that are actually listed on the menu have several toppings and go for $9.50. But Timm asked if there was a discount for just a plain pizza and bargained for $5. So far, they haven't upped the price and it's a great deal! So last night, 4 out of 5 of us ordered it! It's actually a very good pizza, in my opinion. It has a nice crispy thin crust and I really enjoyed it (even more so because it was so cheap)!

After dinner, we decided that we wanted dessert, but didn't really feel like anything on the menu. So, we made a spontaneous decision to go to another restaurant and just order dessert! We walked down to Queen St. and went up one of the side streets to a fancy-ish restaurant that James knew of. All 5 of us actually ordered the same thing: Mississippi Mud Cake. It was delicious!!! Warm chocolate cake with chocolate sauce, whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, custard and kiwi slices - yum. Anyone aware of my love of chocolate knows that this sounds like the perfect dessert for me! We had a really nice time at dessert and were all very happy with our decision. We were stuffed by the end and only James was able to finish his. So we all gave the little bit we had left to Lynn, and it made a nice takeaway for her. (She actually told me that it heated up nicely as breakfast this morning!)

It was still early, so we decided to continue our evening together. We got changed into comfy clothes and then everyone plus Nick came back to my room to watch a movie. We watched "Equilibrium" (which I found very entertaining) followed by 2 episode of "The Office." I was getting very sleepy and went to bed pretty much right after everyone left.

So, this was kind of just a lazy day, but we had fun! It's definitely one of those ordinary days that I will remember. Even if we aren't off traveling or doing crazy things here, we still manage to have a great time. Since we don't have too many "big" things left planned, some of my future posts might be more of this style.

Love,
Lauren

Waiheke Island Vineyard Tour

Waiheke Island is one of several islands accessible by ferry from downtown Auckland. Waiheke has a reputuation for beautiful beaches and great wine. We didn't get a chance to go to Waiheke while the weather was still warm enough for the beach, but I still really wanted to see the island. So, we decided to take a vineyard tour to experience the island's other main attraction besides the beach. We got to visit 3 of Waiheke's 26 vineyards. Apparently the climate on the island is similar to that in Bordeaux, France and thus the wine is supposed to be comparable as well.

The ferry ride took about 40 minutes and since it was a beautiful day, it was very enjoyable being out on the water. We went past Devonport (which was one of the first day trips we took here in New Zealand) as well as Motuihe Island (where we did the volunteer tree planting):

Here's Rangitoto Island (that's an extinct volcano):

Once we got to Waiheke, we boarded the vineyard tour bus. Our driver was pretty quirky and kept us entertained throughout the day with his commentary.

The first stop was at Stonyridge Vinegard, which mainly produces organic red wine. It is known as a "boutique vineyard," because of its small size. About 90% of their wine is sold before it is even bottled! We saw the winecellar, which was very small since they don't produce a large amount of wine. They pride themselves on their organic grapes, with no use of insecticides or herbicides. Here we sampled a chardonnay during our walk through the property and a cabernet merlot with our light lunch. We had sandwiches which were pretty good! There is also an olive grove on the property:

Our next stop was actually the olive oil factory where the olives from Stonyridge are sent to be turned into olive oil. At Rangihoua Estate, they have a machine which they use to produce their olive oil from their own olives, but they also allow the locals to bring in their olives as well (for a fee of course!). I found the tour of the olive oil factory really interesting actually! We saw the machine where they produce the oil and the woman explained to us how it worked. What I found most interesting was that they do not actually press the oil, but instead use a centrifuge to spin the crushed olive mixture so that it separates into 3 layers: the oil, the "fruit water," and the paste remnants. Then, since New Zealand is so eco-friendly, they feed the paste to grazing cows instead of discarding it as waste! (The machine is, of course, made in Italy!)We also learned about the different qualities of olive oil and what defines the oil as "extra virgin." The best part about the tour though were of course the tastings! Rangihoua is currently producing 4 different types of extra virgin olive oil, which differ in the types of olives used. They had bread for us to dip in the different oils, and they really all had distinct tastes! It was delicious!

Next, we continued on to Wild On Waiheke Vineyards. Here, I sampled a Savignon Blanc, a Rose, and a Cabernet Merlot. They also have a microbrewery as well, and we got to try their wheat beer, which I didn't particularly like, but did enjoy more than other wheat beers I have tried before. Here we also got to sample various dips and dressings, my two favorites of which were a rosemary infused balsamic vinegar and a wasabi mustard.

Our final stop was at Mudbrick Vineyards. This was perched way up on the hillside and had a BEAUTIFUL view back across the water to Auckland where, of course, you could see the Skytower. This vineyard had pretty gardens with lavender growing and the restaurant had outdoor seating. It had a very French feel to me. We first tried a Rose here, which was a Cabernet Savignon. I much prefered this Rose to the one at the previous place, which I found to be a little too sweet. (Yes, I'm actually learning a bit about wine and am able to pick up on the differences!) Here, we got to walk up through the vineyards and learned about how the grapes grow and what must be done to ensure that they crop is good. I found all of this very interesting! We tried two more wines here, both of which were red, very dry, and I didn't really care for either of them.

We then headed back to the bus and caught our ferry ride back to Auckland. I REALLY enjoyed the day and Waiheke was very beautiful. You can tell right away when you get onto the island that it is an upscale place. There were some beautiful houses and in general it just has an upmarket feel to it. It would definitely be a beautiful place to retire, and I'm sure many people have had that same idea. Apparently New Zealand's richest man (whose name I forget) lives on Waiheke. The island originally was a place where artists and others seeking an alternative lifestyle came to escape more mainstream society. But then, as the island became more discovered and built up, most of those people left and moved elsewhere. Regardless, the island was certainly very pretty and I had a very enjoyable day!

Exploring Auckland

It's starting to sink in that our time here is winding down. We still have 5 weeks left (a good solid amount of time), but considering that we've been here for over 3 months, it doesn't feel like we have that much time left. As a result, I've been making a conscious effort to go out and explore the city I'm living in.

I've been lucky that we've had several beautiful fall days lately. So the weather has been great for taking walks. Auckland is full of different neighborhoods, and it's really nice to just walk around and explore. There are lots of cafes and I love just strolling around and maybe stopping to grab a coffee or a muffin. (I've probably had more cups of coffee and muffins in these past couple of months than in the past couple of years combined!)

I don't have too much to really SAY about these walks because they pretty much just consist of walking (shocking, I know!) and looking around. So hopefully you can get a little idea from the pictures.

This was in a park in Ponsonby. Part of the sidewalk was tiled with an interesting mosaic.

Today I walked around Parnell. I was having trouble with my iPod and brought it to a store there, so since I was in the neighborhood, I decided to just stroll around. It's a pretty upscale neighborhood that is very residential in parts, but also has a main street with lots of cute shops, restaurants and cafes.

Here's a restaurant with garden seating:

And I found a cool piece of sidewalk in Parnell as well! There were pieces of broken ceramic in the sidewalk:
Continuing my pretty much random walk, I decided to take a look inside the cathedral that I've passed by several times now. I was just curious what the inside looked like, but as soon as I stepped through the door, this little old lady approached me. She gave me info so that I could do a quick "self-guided tour." She was just so friendly I had to take the pamplet from her! It was helpful though, because I learned that the stained glass window there (which was very pretty!) is the largest stained glass window in the Southern Hemisphere! The cathedral was nice inside, so I was happy with my decision to check it out.

The organ pipes (I realize that is probably pretty evident from the picture, but I'm telling you anyway!):
A pretty stained glass window:

And here's the really large one (Dad, this is for you):

This was another church right next door to the cathedral:

And in case you were wondering, yes, there ARE Starbucks in New Zealand. Tons of them, in fact. This one in Parnell is super-classy though, with the carved wooden sign:

And here's just a pretty street that I liked on the walk back: This is in the neighborhood of Newmarket, right next to Parnell. I don't know if you can see or not, but there's a cafe with outdoor tables.

So hopefully this random selection of photos gives you a slight feel for some of Auckland's neighborhoods!

Around Campus

***WARNING: This post is not about a trip or adventure I went on, but it's about school.

Yes, contrary to the impression you have probably gotten from all of my previous posts, I AM actually in New Zealand to attend the University of Auckland. (Well, at least that's the official reason!) So while I've had my share of adventures here, and there still are more to come, the past couple of weeks have been pretty laid back. Everyone is starting to run low on funds, so we can't really be off traveling every weekend like we did when we first got here. We're still having a great time though and do have one more big trip planned. (I'll keep you in suspense about that...it's not for another couple of weeks.)

So in the meantime, we've been hanging around Auckland and doing school stuff. It seems like everyone (and I can defintely vouch for this personally) has been pretty busy lately with lots of papers and other such school stuff. I actually just finished writing a paper for my history class. We're still finding time to enjoy ourselves though - don't worry! We've had several birthdays lately to celebrate, which always makes for a good time. Last weekend, we had a girls' night where we went to dinner and a movie. A big group of us also went bowling, which was a lot of fun. Since school back at home just got out for the summer, we've also been getting some visitors. Several people have family member, friends, boyfriends and girlfriends coming to visit.

Last weekend, we also did a volunteer project where we took a ferry to a nearby island and planted trees for the day. The island is uninhabited, and the Department of Conservation is trying to preserve the island by restoring it to it's original natural condition. We did weeding and planting for most of the day, but the highlight for me was when Kim, Nick and I were asked if we could "help dig a hole." We agreed, and the 3 of us were then taken on a ride out to a secluded beach where we were told that there was a dead baby dolphin that needed to be buried! It was so cute, even though it was dead. We dug the hole and before we put him in, we all got to put on gloves and touch the dolphin. I wish it had been alive, but still, that was a really unique experience getting to bury a baby dolphin.

ANYWAY, I'm getting off track here. The point of this post was to show you around campus a bit. My dad was asking me about the campus and I took some pictures a while back for him. So, I figured I could share them here. The facilities here are actually pretty nice, so take a look and see what you think!

"The Quad":
The Statistics computer lab, where I work on my assignments (notice all of the iMac computers!):

The Engineering Building:
The Rec Center (with the Skytower in the background, of course):
Cafe outside the Student Center:
Main area of campus:
Some random building, not really sure what:

The University Marae (Maori meeting house):
Pacific Studies Building:

The Business School:

Pretty nice, right?