AUCKLAND

Auckland, New Zealand

August 30-Sept 4, 2008

Auckland is a beautiful metro on the water, very similar to Sydney, I think. It is pretty cold here, in the 50′s during the day, and dropping to the low forties at night. It has rained a bit here and there, but nothing too crippling. 

Unreal.

The Sky Tower, the tallest building in the Southern Hemishpere.

The blurry view from up there.

Vertigo through the glass floor of tower.

On Monday, they took us out on a ferry ride to Waiheke Island, a sleepy place that is known for its wine and sheep—not a good combo. Baaaaah. We did a bit of wine tasting at Cable Bay Winery, which had spectacular view of the water. There was no food to be had, and we were all about 5 glasses into it, which was fun. Finally, when the food came, it wass fantastic. Cab braised beef, snapper, pumpkin, crème brulee etc etc. yum bunny.

View from Cable Bay vineyards on Waiheke Isalnd

I have eaten quite well so far—the food and wine here are just amazing, but it probably doesn’t hurt that they have been taking us out to some of the best restaurants in town. I had a Hapuku fish with fennel that was to die for, and some snapper with carrot (also a big ingredient in NZ cuisine), following by an oozing chocolate cake. There was quite a bit of lamb to be had, but after the tanneries in Morocco, I still associate the smell with lamb. L I love lamb too…I think it will take me about a year to get over that one…

HELMS ALEE!

Tuesday, we went out on an America’s Cup yacht for a 3 hour tour in the harbor. It was beautiful, and those boats sure can jam. On our first come about, we were a bit slow, so the jib rope got pretty loose and first whipped me on the finger, and then again, square on the back. Hmm, now I know what that feels like. I ended up mostly unscathed (fearing a large diagonal whip mark on my back)—a mere black bruise on my arm is all I could muster out.

From the yacht

my feet hanging off the boat

The Auckland Skyline looks like a comic book.

Wednesday night, we were going to head out for a great meal, I spent some time finding THE restaurants to go to. We walked around and went to see the Space Tower, the tallest structure in the southern hemisphere and had a white Russian or two. The views were spectacular. Then, the casino at the bottom of the tower seduced us.

We played blackjack for many hours (and I WON $700 NZ dollars!) WHAT?! That’s right. My psychic abilities once again paid off in the friendly game of blackjack, this table with a perfect pair bet. Here’s how it works: place an additional bet on the perfect pair space (min, bet $2.50) and if you get dealt a pair of anything, a colored pair of anything, or a “perfect pair” (the exact same card), you win! It is a long shot bet, but a fun one. So the first time I made this bet, I got a perfect pair. This happened to me about 5 times that night which was about 40%-50% of the time I bet, with a $125 payoff each time—it was a little nuts. Read on to find out how I spent my winnings!

Our big time chips!

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