Shopping

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Geo: -36.8474, 174.766

Arrived at the Langham and as expected our room was not available until 3pm. Walked downtown to the Harbour for coffee and breakfast. Had breakfast at the Hilton on Princess Wharf. Checked out the wharfs and saw Celebrity Solstice (departing tonight) which will be a couple days ahead of us on pretty much same route. Almost 3,000 passengers, compared to our 700, and it shows as sold out!!

The late morning and early afternoon brought . . . . Wait for it! Good lord!!! Shopping!! I didn't even like shopping when I was skinny! Now I HATE it - changing rooms surrounded with mirrors!! However, I scored a pair of slacks, 2 dress shirts and 2 tees 😊 Bonnie did even better. I was told that I was VERY patient.

It was a decent walk back up to the Langham, made bearable by a pit stop for Speights and a Sauv Blanc, which we enjoyed in our room with a view of the Auckland Sky Tower! Keep in mind - we left home at 2:30pm PST, had a 14hr flight and another 10 hrs of touring/shopping before we got a change of clothes!! 28 hrs on the go - so far.

Got organized, cleaned up and changed, then wandered over to an area west of the hotel called K'Road. (For an alternative experience in Auckland, Karangahape Road offers an eclectic mix of bars and clubs and is known as a diverse and creative district. This area is big on events such as dance and DJ gigs and hip hop concerts, together with contemporary art and music events, as well as several gay bars.) Turned out the TripAdvisor restaurants were all closed - last Sunday of Xmas holidays, which was probably good as turned out not to be the nicest area, very interesting eclectic area, but not the nicest.

So we walked back down to the wharfs and tried a couple of spots. Saw the Solstice depart and ended up at place by the ferry wharfs called Botswana Butchery. We had to wait for an outside table, so struck up a conversation with the bartender who turned out to have worked last winter at Silver Star. He waxed eloquent about resort in Revelstoke - thought it was BEST ski resort ever, long runs and no crowds!!Dinner was spectacular - ahi tuna/lettuce tacos followed by Northland Stuffed Lamb Loin for me and Pumpkin & Pinenut Tortellini for Bonnie.
The wines were recommended by a nice young lad who sounded English - Cloudy Bay Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

Dinner was followed by gelato, as we passed it on the way home and dinner was relatively light. Then the hike up the hill again to the Langham and bed at about 10pm Auckland time.

Day One - 34 Hours!! No too bad!

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