Auckland, St. Patty's Day Weekend

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St. Patrick’s Day in New Zealand was soo much fun. We celebrated that night by going to a friend’s house (I played foosball and beat people - it was great), then town and barhopping.

Before that, Esther and I had gone with Brad and Mike - American friends from Minnesota - to Bridal Veil Falls outside of Raglan, about 30-40 minutes away. They had all seen them before, but I hadn’t. There was a pool at the bottom and Brad swam in it - but he was the only one willing to be cold and miserable. On the way back up the trail someone discovered a vine hanging down a tree, and we played Tarzan with it (I wasn’t very good…I ran my back into the tree - not the best feeling). Then, on the road back to Hamilton, we decided to stop and climb a mountain in the middle of a cow field. I didn’t get a picture from the bottom, but it was really tall. The climb wouldn’t have been bad except I was wearing jandals (flip flops) and there were lots of prickly thorn plants. The view from the top was worth it, though.

We got back from that little trip around 9, then got ready and went to Kate’s then town. Fun people, great time.

Saturday morning Brett (Kate’s flatmate) took Kate and I to Auckland. He was going for his cousin’s flat-moving out party, and was nice enough to let us tag along and take us to all the touristy Auckland places. We went to the Sky Tower first (328-m, 1076-ft=tallest building in the southern hemisphere) - the views were amazing. Water and boats were everywhere. The height didn’t bother me, but the creepy part was standing on these glass panels they had in the floor, so you could see underneath you. That was weird. When we got over that, Kate and I made it creepier by jumping on them - eek! It felt like we were going to fall a long, long way.

After the sky tower, we went to a little beach and got ice cream (extremely yummy) and walked on the beach a bit. After the ice cream was finished, I decided that I wanted to dig a hole with my little ice cream spoon, so that’s what we did. Brett and I dug a hole all the way to the Netherlands (Kate decided the destination). Only our hands made it through to the other side, but they said it was really nice over there. : )

We had dinner at a Belgian Beer café, then went to his cousin’s. They had just finished dinner and were talking, and we just joined in. Main topic of conversation - differences between kiwi culture and American culture. Always interesting. Later we went to a club in town, and had a great time dancing the night away.

The next day, Sunday, we went to breakfast (really lunchtime…), then went to the Auckland art gallery and the Aquarium (links included below). At the aquarium we watched the really cute penguins waddle and swim around, and saw the short-tailed stingrays being fed. Amazing! One of them was humongous - 40 years old and the matriarch of the stingrays.

After the aquarium, we got takeaway burgers and had a picnic on top of Mt. Eden, one of the 50 dormant volcanoes around Auckland. We could see the city and harbor, and had a great time play I Spy.

Then we went to Brett’s other cousin’s house, where we watched the end of Meet the Fockers and played a really fun music game called Buzz. I didn’t do so well…but still fun. We stayed the night in their living room, and left at 6 in the morning so Brett could get to work. Yet another great weekend. : )

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Photos

view from sky tower and bungee jumper
we looked outside and there was this man out there - quite unexpected. he's waiting to fall - eek!

Auckland boats
boats in harbor, from wharf

our hole to the netherlands!
our hands made it all the way to the Netherlands - wow!

penguins!
oh so cute!