Half a Dozen Memories: Sky Tower & Newmarket
A quick recap - in Week 1, I spent the weekend in Raglan and Rotorua with my friends (Sarah and Clara). Week 2? Well, I stayed in the area but went to a couple of new places that I hadn't had the time to visit yet. Overall, it was a great relaxing weekend at home where I was able to explore more of Auckland with some awesome people!
- WEEK 2 -
SATURDAY, JULY 21ST
During the week, Clara and I made plans to go up the Sky Tower over the weekend. Neither of us had been up it yet, but I definitely have seen it plenty of times! Clara picked me up and we drove into the city. Unfortunately, the day was a bit overcast which meant we probably wouldn't have the best view from the tower. However, we were optimistic! To start off the day, I somehow hit my lip with the car door when I opened it to grab my bag from the backseat. It was such a freak accident, I could only laugh and hold a tissue to my lip to stop the bleeding. 🤣 We walked up to the tower and found our way inside. The big snow globe I had visited (from my Footpaths & Foot Pavement blog) was still up and it actually had fake snow flying around in it! While we were waiting in line to get our tickets, a random lady came up and gave us a free voucher for the tower. I was a little suspicious it wouldn't work, but it did! Thanks stranger!🙌 The line for the elevator was quite short and soon we found ourselves inside going up to the Observation Deck on Level 51. The bottom of the elevator was glass, which made for a unique view going up and down! Even though the day was overcast, there were still many people visiting the tower. The windows were actually quite dirty, so our pictures weren't the best. We ended up walking around for awhile and looked at the information plaques, saw some people jump from the tower (in a completely safe way of course), and watched as the storm clouds came in over Auckland. Because we walked around for so long, the weather eventually cleared up and the sun shone.☀
- WEEK 2 -
SATURDAY, JULY 21ST
During the week, Clara and I made plans to go up the Sky Tower over the weekend. Neither of us had been up it yet, but I definitely have seen it plenty of times! Clara picked me up and we drove into the city. Unfortunately, the day was a bit overcast which meant we probably wouldn't have the best view from the tower. However, we were optimistic! To start off the day, I somehow hit my lip with the car door when I opened it to grab my bag from the backseat. It was such a freak accident, I could only laugh and hold a tissue to my lip to stop the bleeding. 🤣 We walked up to the tower and found our way inside. The big snow globe I had visited (from my Footpaths & Foot Pavement blog) was still up and it actually had fake snow flying around in it! While we were waiting in line to get our tickets, a random lady came up and gave us a free voucher for the tower. I was a little suspicious it wouldn't work, but it did! Thanks stranger!🙌 The line for the elevator was quite short and soon we found ourselves inside going up to the Observation Deck on Level 51. The bottom of the elevator was glass, which made for a unique view going up and down! Even though the day was overcast, there were still many people visiting the tower. The windows were actually quite dirty, so our pictures weren't the best. We ended up walking around for awhile and looked at the information plaques, saw some people jump from the tower (in a completely safe way of course), and watched as the storm clouds came in over Auckland. Because we walked around for so long, the weather eventually cleared up and the sun shone.☀
The sign in the top right corner reads, "This glass floor is 38mm thick. IT IS AS STRONG AS THE CONCRETE FLOORS YOU ARE STANDING ON." 😄 Still, walking on a glass floor so high up does make you think...just for a second.
Rangitoto in the distance! You can see how cloudy it was right away.
Perspective.
Cheese!
USA represent. ✊ The Sky Tower is 328m tall, which is only 4m more than the Eiffel Tower and 500m shorter than the Burj Khalifa.
See how dirty the windows were? I literally only posted this picture because of the partial rainbow over the city! I've seen more rainbows living here for 6 months than I would in a year back home in MN.🌈
Once the weather had improved, we went up to the Sky Deck (Level 60) to have an even better view of Auckland. The windows were MUCH cleaner on this level and didn't have as thick of seams between them - which meant better pictures! After a couple of times walking around this level, we rode the lift back down to Level 51 and got on a different lift to go down to the ground level.
See the bridge? I have to drive over that whenever I visit Auckland or want to go on weekend trips south of Browns Bay.
A view of Mt. Eden. It's so interesting how there are so many different "mountains" throughout the city of Auckland. I mean, you have this city full of tall buildings and motorways and then you come upon this little bit of nature. I love it! It reminds me of Central Park in NYC.
The large green square of grass? Yeah that's Victoria Park and also where I often either get on or off the bus when visiting Auckland.
The glass bottomed lift.
Let's be honest - there's only so many pictures one can take of a city. If I could have gotten a 360° picture for you, I would have! Back on the main level, we decided it was time for lunch. Scarecrow cafe was close by, so we headed there. Of course, I got scrambled eggs on sourdough (my "go-to" choice most of the time!) and a flat white. We chatted while we ate and then wandered around the city for a bit.
Not gonna lie...this meal probably cost me around $18. While ridiculous, I am way more used to Auckland prices than I was back in February!
We ended up walking to Albert Park - located behind the Art Museum. By now, the weather was perfect for exploring outside. We came across a group of people all on their phones playing Pokémon GO (we think). After a quick walk around the park, we went back to the car to drop off/pick up a couple of things.
For a "pre-dinner" snack, we decided to have a freakshake. And, instead of driving to the cafe that makes freakshakes, we thought it would be a great idea to walk. Turns out it was a bit longer of a walk than we had anticipated, but we felt we REALLY deserved the shake once we got there! Along the way, we had to stop and find a geocache. We had a successful find in a tree located in Fraser Park.
There were many people at the freakshake place (CrunchTower Desserts & Drinks), but we found a table inside. After looking at ALL of the options, we decided on the freakshake located in the picture below. It was DELICIOUS! Inside the cone, we had chocolate/mint gelato and it was covered in chocolate, whipped cream, fruitloops, and chocolate covered cookies. Not to mention the milkshake in the glass (it was a runny milkshake, but still tasty!). In order to eat a freakshake, you must put on plastic gloves - which you get when they deliver the shake.
We had no problem finishing our treat (my goal is to eat a whole one by myself one day...maybe😁) and we began our trek back into the city. By now it was dark, but there were plenty of lights to guide our way! Soon, we were back in the the center of Auckland and found an Indian restaurant to have curry for dinner. It was a delicious meal and by the time we had finished eating and chatting, it was quite late! Overall, we had a fantastic day in the city where I walked almost 17,000 steps!
SUNDAY, JULY 22ND
A stack of rocks near Albert Park.
We climbed a tree! :)
A fountain in the center of Albert Park. In the summer, there are beautiful flowers planted around the fountain and park.
Clara found this one!
Check out this masterpiece!
The flower wall outside of the CrunchTower cafe.
A beautiful church we saw on our walk.
Auckland street art.
Today, I had plans to meet up with Christina. The day looked a bit overcast, but our plan was to walk around in Newmarket - a more upscale shopping district of Auckland. Instead of taking the bus, I picked Christina up and drove into the city! 😱 It was quite busy, but we eventually found a parking spot. First, we just walked around the area a bit and chatted. Down one street, we saw colorful egg sculptures that reminded me of Easter.
A short clip of the eggs and walking around.
One place we had to go into was the Makana Confectionary store. We were able to try a few different samples of the various chocolates and oh my goodness...it was FANTASTIC! Before I come home, I will be buying some of the chocolate to bring with me. Everything was quite expensive, but totally worth it for a "once in awhile" treat (click HERE for more info on this chocolate)! Christina purchased something for her host dad's birthday and then we were off to the next place!
We looked around in a "mall" but there weren't too many stores. Around this time, we decided it was time for lunch. Christina wanted to stop by the Crocs store and look around first and then we went to The Coffee Club. While we were waiting for our food, it started to pour rain outside. It lasted for a bit, but it had thankfully stopped by the time we were finished eating. The Coffee Club is a cafe chain that can be found throughout most of the North Island and part of the South Island. It's probably New Zealand's version of Caribou!
A sculpture on one of the street corners in Newmarket.
I will be going back to Newmarket to eat here. :)
After lunch, we headed back home and I spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and working out. I was able to go for a walk around the neighborhood and enjoy the beautiful weather after the rain.
On my way home, I saw this beautiful rainbow and had to pull over to take a picture!
Walking views of Bayside Drive.
Made my goal for the day!
Week 2 = DONE! Week 3? Coming soon!
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