Macs Brew Bar

Chips & beer at our usual spot in the Octagon on a sunny Dunedin afternoon

Brew

Brew is a little neighbourhood cafe in Musselburgh. It was new when we were here at Christmas and still seems to be going strong - much like the coffee

NZ coffee is a bit more like a punch in the face than Melbourne coffee

Couldn't go last the Belgium slice - yum!

weddings down south

Reid and I have been engaged for a little while now - and the first time I searched for wedding venues in Dunedin Google didn't really come up with anything!

On my my recent search I found - the Dunedin Wedding Planner and Central Otago Celebrations!!

It has a great directory of businesses that can meet your every wedding need!!

While we where at home over Christmas we actually found a potential venue in Dunedin (although I don't know the price yet, so it might be out of our range). Norfolk House is a beautiful old home in St Clair that would make a perfect wedding venue.

We also went for a drive through to central and found a bunch of great venue options in Clyde and Lauder.

The Post Office Cafe (pub) is a beautiful stone cottage building with gorgeous back garden


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The Packing Shed Orchard in Earnscleugh


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Orchard Gardens Cafe (and maze!)- Clyde


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and finally Lauderdale Estate


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Auckland

had a great time in Auckland, it was so quiet and easy going and made for a very relaxing break :)
I was pretty surprised at how quiet it was, I was expecting big city hustle and bustle, lots of people all racing around with plenty to do! Instead there was no one around - the main street of the CBD was practically empty until about 3pm on Saturday afternoon. We ate brunch at the Viaduct Basin where there were several restaurants and cafe's with only a few customers each.

I was also really surprised at how warm it was - it was definitely warmer than in Melbourne, we didn't need to wear a coat, even at night time. I think the difference between Auckland and Melbourne is the overnight low - in Auckland it didn't get nearly as cold as Melbourne so first thing in the morning it wasn't so cold and it only got warmer during the day!

A couple of other things we noticed:

• everyone pays by EFTPOS for everything! even a $3 coffee or a round of drinks at the bar!
  
• the dairy or corner store is called a superette
• (Reid thought) everywhere smelt like pee
• the harbour bridge was smaller than expected
• giving way to the right is really annoying! It means that there are several phases of lights at every intersection - turning cars, then straight ahead cars, then turning cars, then straight ahead cars on the second road, and somewhere in there pedestrians get to cross. I'm sure if we had been there longer we would have worked out the pattern, but I felt like we spent a LOT of time waiting at the lights!
• Cars don't give way to pedestrians. In Australia if a car is turning into a side street, approaching an intersection, or pulling out of a driveway/car park they give way to pedestrians - in New Zealand if you are on foot WATCH OUT!

Here are some pics


Warning at Auckland Wharf


Beer and Wine at the Occidental Bar Vulcan Lane


Deb @ the Domain


Winter Garden @ the Domain


Reid outside a Marae at the Auckland Museum


Auckland Museum


Reid & Deb at Orbit Restaurant - Sky Tower
The Orbit restaurant rotates at the top of the Auckland Sky tower. We had a really clear night so had a great view!!


Sky Tower Auckland


View from Sky Tower Auckland


View down from Sky Tower lift


Reid & sting ray at Kelly Tarltons
I was a bit disappointed with Kelly Tarltons - the penguins didn't have much room for swimming or wandering about!


Penguins at Kelly Tarltons


More penguins at Kelly Tarltons


Star fist at Kelly Tarltons


star fish at Kelly Tarltons


Funny fish at Kelly Tarltons


Pub in Auckland

rugby

Reid and I popped over to Auckland for the recent All Blacks v England rugby game!

The trip was great - a nice long 4 day weekend, a great game of rugby, nice warm weather (for winter).

There was a free bus from the CBD to Eden Park. Then after the game there were heaps of free buses ready and waiting to take us back to the CBD! Very well organised!

Here are some pics from the game!


Reid @ Eden Park


Pre game entertainment


Me with a hotdog!!!


Kick off


Packed terraces!


A scrum (random pic)

West Coast - NZ

Reid and I spent two weeks in NZ over xmas.
I spent the first week travelling down the West Coast of the South Island with Mum and Dad - which was absolutely spectacular - here's a quick summary:

Green as far as the eye can see - green hills, green fields, green rivers (in contrast to Australia which is brown/red as far as the eye can see). For New Zealand, 2006 was the year of rain, flooding, and landslides - this TVNZ news article summarises the year of bad weather in NZ over the past year.

weatherboard homes - esp in lime green



blue and yellow letter boxes - EVERYONE has one!












it was a very quiet trip, with lots of stops to take in the view - here are a few snap shots:


















A few people pics





















A little local humour



















Local tourism promotion



















Local wildlife



















Mt Cook (Aoraki) & Tasman



Sunrise at Fox



Fox Glacier



Punakaiki (Pancake Rocks)



Lake Paringa



The End of the Road - Jackson Bay