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Published: February 1st 2010
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What a weekend!!
Who would have thought it really as I had work both Saturday and Sunday mornings but managed to still find the time to celebrate some of Auckland's Anniversary celebrations. If you were ignorant like me it is yet another public holiday, the anniversary of the arrival of William Hobson. The New Zealand Government Gazette of 26 January, 1842 (Volume 2, 4th Edition) carried a notice stating
"Saturday, the 29th instant, being the Second Anniversary of the establishment of the Colony, His Excellency the Governor has been pleased to direct that day to be held a General Holiday, on which occasion the Public Offices will be closed."
On Saturday our destination was the Viaduct where the International Buskers Festival was being held. Even though we were late we did manage to see 3 performances which did not fail to entertain. The environment at the Viaduct is always lively but at the same time relaxing (must be something to do with being by the sea) and as the sun was shining we of course ended up at the pub for a few drinks and some very chunky potatoe wedges with a huge dollop of cream. Let us just say that the Four Nations pub is now a choice destination!!!
Sunday was a bit more eventful and that was not just because it was raining. The plan was originally to meet hubby at the carpark
close to the Viaduct so that we could make our way as early as possible to the seafood festival. After a desperate phone call with hubby using choice words to describe the weather, it was decided that I would pick him up from work and we would just head home 😞 Once I got to his office though we decided that we would chance it. What a chance we took! Well it was 15 dollars to get in and we kind of thought that something would be included but the only thing included was the entertainment and some cooking demonstrations. OK I guess for 15 dollars it was not all that bad, but we were hoping for some free seafood!!! Anyway the smell coming from all of the stalls was pretty amazing and we had a tough time choosing what we wanted to taste and we were pretty much spoilt for choice. Yes if only we could have tasted them all but unfortunately we don't get paid that much. Everything we did get, seafood paella, shrimp skewers and a seafood fritter did not disappoint! Then of course there was the obligatory glass of wine or two and a cooking demo
and some live entertainment. All of which pretty made it a great experience. Note that I have not mentioned that we had to hide from the rain every now and again which tried hard but unsuccessfully to put a dampner on things.
That should have been an end to the day but we noticed that there was going to be a fiesta of colour parade, dance party and a firework display later that night so we decided to stick around. Colour was definitely the right word to use as Auckland's latin american contingents were on display. We certainly enjoyed dancing into the night to some fantastic latin american music. It ended with a firework display and as we heard a kiwi comment...
"It wasn't bad for New Zealand".
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