Closer to winter, oddly still relatively warm and loving it!

Lucky for us, the weather has remained nice here in Auckland, and sometimes even on the weekends. Since last updating the blog, I have managed to fit in a few more bits of fun around the place.

You can't really be in Auckland without going up the Sky Tower. It is 328 meters high/approx 1100ft high and the tallest man-made structure in NZ. Since the Kiwis love their adventures, you can Sky Walk around the outside or even Sky Jump off the Tower. I was much more safe on the inside, and of course, the view is amazing. The photos speak for themselves. Melanie, Justin and I went up on a clear day. It was lovely.

Glass bottom floor - YIKES!
Eden Park - our venue
My Apartment Building - it's the one in the middle of the photo

The Harbour and Rangitoto - the big dormant volcano
Sky Tower at Night

The following weekend was nice again, so it was off to Rangitoto, the dormant volcano to have a look. Melanie, Baldy, Merryn and I jumped on a ferry and headed across the harbour for the afternoon. It was stunning. It is 260m high/850 ft high and is over 700 years old. A 3 hour tour via tractor train got us all over the island. Again, more amazing views...

The ferry building
Rangitoto from the ferry
The island is pretty much entirely covered in rocks like this...
The volcano's crater
Baldy on the beachside of the island
View from the top
Pano from top...

I think I had one rainy weekend in the meantime, where I spent quite a bit of time inside my house playing Rockband and dancing to Dance Central. This weekend is Queen's Birthday weekend in NZ, so we're having Monday off as well. Saturday night I went to the Rugby match to observe. It was pretty cold and wet there, but luckily I was undercover. On Sunday, I caught another ferry across the harbour to Devonport -- a very cute North Harbourside town with lovely shops, cafes, a huge pub and a cute old cinema. I will have to go back to some of the shops again. There are some great designers over there. Lovely way to spend a Sunday arvo. It was too nice to go to the cinema, so maybe on a rainier day I will head back.

Devonport Ferry Terminal Pano
Mt Victoria in Devonport - obviously there are big hills everywhere here
Victoria Picture Palace - originally built in 1912 - NZ's oldest cinema

I keep trying to avoid spending long hours at this amazing record/book/comic/video game shop just down the street from my apartment called Real Groovy. It even has some retro clothes and a coffee shop inside. It is also where you go to get tickets to all the concerts in town. It just had it's 30th Birthday celebrations. Lucky for me I managed to go along just as a window shopper, but I don't know how much longer I will be able to keep doing that. Lucky for me, it is at the bottom of a big hill. Getting there is easy; it's getting back to my apartment which take a bit of effort, especially when carrying lots of purchases. Anyway, here is a photo of the shop. Definitely worth checking out if you get to Auckland.

Real Groovy - I am probably not even cool enough to hang out here, but I try to fit in

That's probably about it from me at the moment. Am hoping to fit in a bit more travelling before it gets super busy at work, but I am afraid I am running out of weekends. Will try to do a bit tour of the South Island once the Rugby is over. Everyone keeps telling me it's a complete other world down there....one that I can't wait to see. I am thinking Marlborough, Franz Josef Glacier, Milford Sound, Queenstown, Christchurch & Dunedin....or something like that. But that is still ages away...until then look after yourselves, wherever you are.
lots of love,
Sxo