The Land of Auck.

So most people would think that Auckland would be super hustle[y] and bustle[y]. Those people would be correct which is why Saul and I thought it would be the perfect place for a little rest and relaxation.

The first order of business after landing in Auckland was to get some lunch. We settled on McDonalds at the airport. Maybe we’ve been in AmSam too long but I have a newfound love for Mcdonalds these days.

We jumped on the airport shuttle to our hotel, the 5-star Langham Auckland. Auckland airport is about a 45-minute bus ride to the actual city so we made ourselves comfy. We arrived at the hotel to be greeted with amazing service. The lady at the front desk upgraded our room category and made sure that we had a room where we could see some of the New Years Eve fireworks.

We decided to take a walk to get acquainted with the first metropolitan we had been to since we had left Los Angeles six months ago.  My first impression was that Auckland was busy, crowded and kind of dirty (omg, are those homeless people?!). After a crash course in cultural adjustment I begin to find the things that I love about metropolitans (there’s always something new to explore, sipping a coffee and people watching is a great way to enjoy an afternoon etc.).  We took a walk down to the viaduct and meandered our way back to the hotel for some R&R and a nap.

At the viaduct.

We woke up and decided that we should probably get dinner. We took to tripadvisor (like we do for just about everything) and found a highly rated pizza place called Sal’s New York Pizza. Although Chicago wins top honors in my book for pizza I was happy to find a pizza place (we are so used to having to make our own pizza). The pizza was HUGE. We just about finished it all being the foodies that we are.

 Big pizza/bigger hair.

The next day was New Years Eve. We slept in a bit and decided to go for a walk back into the more upbeat part of downtown. We went and saw the Skytower which is pretty much like the Space Needle of Auckland.  By this time we were getting hungry so we went on a mission to find lunch. After walking in circles for about 30 minutes we decided to have Nando’s again (we discovered this place in Queenstown). Again, it was so f-ing amazing. Saul swears he’s going to buy a Nando’s franchise and bring it to the states.

Britomart

Gotta love people who take selfies on public phones.

Fabulous Spanish churros with chocolate sauce. We had something very similar in Barcelona but actually thought the Kiwi ones were better :)

After lunch we went back to the hotel and took another one of our many naps.  We had already pre-decided that we were going to be Lazy with a capital L in Auckland. We woke up and hopped on the hotel shuttle to go back down to the viaduct. We got some espresso and people watched while I caught up on my celebrity gossip via Kiwi tabloid magazines. Then we meandered through Britomart (where there are absolutely no burritos ha ha).

Back to the hotel we went. It was getting late and we had reservations at Eight Restaurant in our hotel @ 8:30 for New Years Eve. While in AmSam we weighed our NYE options (there’s lots of big parties and concerts on NYE in Auckland) but decided eating delicious food would be our favorite way to ring in the New Year. We forked over a whopping $160 per person to spend New Years at Eight so our expectations were high.

The necessary mirror pictures after getting ready for our din din.

After getting ready we meandered to our dinner. Eight is technically a buffet restaurant (it’s all you can eat) but with eight different food stations cooking gourmet just about anything you want. You pick what you want the chef at each station to cook for you and they prepare it to order. For instance, at the seafood station they’ll make fish, shellfish and calamari for you and in the quantity you want. The meat station was out of control. They had ostrich, kangaroo, filet of beef, chicken, pork tail patties, and lamb. I’m pretty sure Saul and I tried just about everything from this station. There was a sushi station, a dessert station, an Indian cuisine station and so so much more. We also had the beverage package so we had wine pairings to go with all of our courses. It was just fabulous and worth every single penny.

Sushi! That's a real tuna that the chef was actually serving.

Seafood station. New Zealand is known for it's green-lipped mussels. They're fab!

Meat station.

Of course we had to end with dessert! :)

We bought some champagne and went up to our room at about 11pm where we had a low-key night and brought in the New Year with fireworks going off through our window. In other words, it was perfect! :)

-C