Friday 11/2 (just before she got here):
We tried a new restaurant called Monsoon Poon with our new Aussie friends, Amy & James. You never would have been able to drag Drew to a Thai/Indian/Pan-Asian restaurant back home, but he's trying to branch out! We had lot of yummy food...too much, actually...but then we headed over to Parnell to check out a dueling piano bar...one of our favorite things! When ordering drinks at the bar, the bartender heard our accents, we started chatting about the States, and it turns out she went to UNCW and has family in Carolina Beach & Raleigh...talk about a small world! The musicians were great, but we didn't get to stay long because we had to get some beauty sleep before our 4am wake-up call :)
Saturday 11/3:
We picked up Maggie and brought her back to our apartment to drop off stuff and relax for just a bit. At that point it was only about 8:30am, but it felt like mid-afternoon! We headed over to downtown so Drew could get a haircut and we could show her around the CBD. We had lunch at Nando's then drove to all corners of Auckland so Maggie could take it all in. The weather was a little crummy so staying in the car was the best option--except for our drive to the top of Mt. Eden. After stopping at the store, then relaxing a little bit more, we headed to an early dinner at Marvel Grill right near our place. We tried our best to stay awake, but we were all asleep before 9pm--it was a long day!
Sunday 11/4:
We all slept until we naturally woke up and, boy, did we need it! Since the weather was so nice we decided to hop in the car and head to the beach! We drove down (and up and down again) to get to Piha where we drove down to both ends of the beach before getting out and having lunch at Blair's on the Beach. It was SUPER windy so we had to eat in the car, but the setting was still great! Afterwards, we showed Maggie the ridiculous prices at the American store and loaded up on some Thanksgiving necessities. We finished the afternoon with a hike around Mt. Wellington where we got the play with some puppies out on a walk and see some great views of Auckland. To cap off the weekend, we met our friends Will & Tally over in Ponsonby for dinner at Prego--yum!
Monday 11/5:
Monday was our downtown day, so Maggie and I headed from one end of Queen St. to the other, went in lots of little shops, had lunch at a cool place called Elliott Stables, then went up to the top of the Sky Tower. We got to see a guy base jump off the top, but Maggie could not be convinced to do the same...smart girl! I had a meeting that afternoon, so Maggie got to relax and Skype with some folks from back home while I was gone. That night, the 3 of us headed across the bridge to Joan's house where she hosted a Guy Fawkes bbq for a small group of us (her & her husband, Dennis; her daughter, Ivy, & her boyfriend, Karl; her son, Andrew; me, Drew, Maggie, Erin & Scott.) We had delicious burgers and wine and fireworks (Guy Fawkes Day is similar to the 4th of July back home, FYI.)
Tuesday 11/6:
Tuesday we got Christmas coffee from Starbucks then headed to the Auckland Zoo. Since we were really lucking out with the nice weather, we headed up to the Albany mall to shop & grab lunch on our way up to Orewa Beach. Since we showed Maggie a west coast beach, I figured she needed to see an east coast one, too. We drove through some sheep pastures then made it to the beach where we walked around and collected shells. Then we headed back home and made tacos for dinner--always a good decision!
Wednesday 11/7:
Yesterday we woke up early, dropped Drew off at work then headed out on the road to Waitomo to check out the glow worm caves. Maggie got to see a lot of the New Zealand countryside and the crazy-changing speed limits along the way. We decided to do the short glow worm cave tour which consisted of a 20-minute walking tour and a short boat ride through the pitch black cave with nothing to see but thousands of tiny little bugs on the walls of the caves lighting the way. After that, we ate a quick lunch and then headed to longer tour through the underground caves. It was very dark and a lot of the walkways were suspended over a pitch black river...very terrifying for people (like yours truly) who are claustrophobic and afraid of heights! All in all, it was a fun experience!
Thursday 11/8:
While Drew finished up his week at work, Maggie & I hopped on the ferry over to Waiheke Island. We had purchased tickets to do a winery tour of the island and it was fantastic! The weather was absolutely perfect which made drinking wine that much better! We went to the Peacock Sky winery and actually got to have a mini food pairing with each wine we tasted--that was a first! Then we had a lovely lunch at the Beachfront Cafe before heading to a place called Wild on Waiheke which is actually a vineyard and a brewery. We got a try a couple of their beers, but preferred to stick to the wine! Lastly, we were off to the Goldie Vineyard which was the first commercial winery on Waiheke Island. We just barely made our ferry back to Auckland, but we did just in time to meet Drew at work and walk back home. We took Maggie to dinner Tanuki's Cave then came home to pack for our weekend adventure!
Tomorrow, we head off to Queenstown for the weekend--another blog post will be coming soon!
Cheers!
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