A birds-eye view and an introduction to rugby.

An Auckland Adventure:
August 2 – Saturday

We woke up to rain on Saturday; a persistent drizzle that was more annoying than anything. We got dressed (slightly nicer for our brunch), and headed downtown. We were lucky enough to pick a Link bus that took us right to Sky City, where Una, Melinda, Jamie, Andrea and I were to meet up with Josh, Jen, Denise, Jess, Jesse and Amanda for lunch.

Taking the elevator up to Orbit was a treat in itself, even though Jamie nearly peed herself when she realized you could not only see out the windows on the front of the elevator, but you could also see down through the floor. She’s terrified of heights.

When we got up to Orbit for our 11:30 reservation, the place was nearly empty. It was well worth the $30 we had to spend to eat there. Not only was the food delicious (I had fresh fruit a yogurt, a latte, and French toast with bacon and fried bananas), but the view was stunning. The whole restaurant revolved, so that over the course of our 2-hour meal, we got a full 360-degree view of Auckland nearly three times. Even though it was cloudy, the view was still pretty impressive. The only other cities I’ve seen from atop towers are Toronto and Shanghai. I don’t remember the Toronto view much, but all I can remember about Shanghai were the endless line of skyscrapers and the smog. Auckland wasn’t like that at all. There are tall buildings, yes, but not thousands of them. Most of the view was harbor and sea, complete with sail boats coasting along near the harbor bridge.

After brunch, we headed down one floor to the observation deck to snap some more pictures in a more appropriate setting. On that deck, there are places where the floor is just a big sheet of glass, and you can see all the way down to the street. I made sure to jump, dance and lay across those panes, just for good measure. They were, afterall, 38 millimeters thick, and as strong as any slab of concrete (as we were informed by a sign). This fact did not really set Jamie and Una at ease, however, and it was quite an ordeal for them to step out onto the glass.

After our time in the Sky Tower, our large group split into smaller ones for the afternoon. Jamie, Andrea, Josh and I decided to roam around a bit more, and head down towards the harbor. It was drizzly still, but not pouring, so the walk was enjoyable. At least Auckland’s rain was warmer than Wellington’s.

We walked all along the harbor, past the ferry building and down around the Hilton hotel. We stopped and got gelato at Valentino’s, and saw the cruise ship that was in the news last week after it got caught in a bad storm and several passengers got hurt. There were still a few news camera crews out and about around it.

Eventually we made our way in the direction of the clubs and bars we’d seen the night before. We stumbled upon a Caterbury of New Zealand shop along the way, which is a store that sells all sorts of rugby attire. It was quite busy with the impending game that evening. I ended up getting a scarf for me, and a hat for Dad. On the way out, we ran into two huge blow-up figures of rugby players – one All Black and one Wallaby – that were being toted around by two guys. It was quite a comic sight, and we got photos, of course.

Next came a bit of an adventure. But it warrants a bit of backtracking in my storyline… Prior to arriving in Auckland, Jamie, Andrea and I decided we wanted to go horseback riding in NZ. We found a place north of Auckland called Pakiri Beach, where you can ride horses (take a guess) on the beach. We made a booking and were excited, until we found out that Pakiri is an hour and a half away from Auckland, and no buses or trains run there, and a cab was going to be outrageously expensive. So we decided to take the plunge and rent a car for a day.

We picked up the car at 4:45 on Saturday, since we’d be needing it early the next morning. Jamie, being the one in our trio who had the best grasp on the streets in Auckland, took the wheel first. It was nerve-wracking and totally odd to be driving on the wrong side of the road on the wrong side of the car, but Jamie got us safely back to our hostel. Then it was time to meet up for the All Blacks game.

We made our way back into town, and met up with everyone else at the train station. We hopped on a (free!) train headed out to Eden Park Stadium, which was packed to capacity with All Blacks and Wallabies fans alike. The weather was on our side once again, as the rain cleared up almost the instant we got off the train. We were then herded into the stadium, and found our seats about a half hour before the match started.

Rugby is an interesting sport. It’s obviously quite different from any sport that it’s close to. It’s much more brutal than American football, and also much more fast-paced, since there’s no break after each down (because there are no downs), and the clock is constantly going. It’s also quite unlike soccer in that it’s full contact and that your hands are on the ball. Rugby is just… rugby, I suppose.

But I think the weirdest thing was the spectator aspect of it. For one, there is no announcer like in football, so the stadium, even though it was packed with tens of thousands of people, seemed rather still and quiet. Spectators also don’t stand up very much, unless it’s when something really good or really bad happens.

But they do do the wave. Haha. We got it to go around the whole stadium about three times. There was only one section that refused to do it – a whole legion of Australia fans sitting together under the canopy who wouldn’t budge. They got booed, obviously.

At “half-time,” which really only lasted about 5 minutes, Jamie, Andrea and I got Hell’s Pizza and these little mini donuts. They were made fresh right on the spot by these little Asians, and handed over, hot, coated in cinnamon sugar. Mmm. Jamie went back for a second bag, and regretted it later.

The All Blacks ended up beating Australia 39 to 10. Which was good, because they had lost to Aussie the week before, and hadn’t lost a game at Eden Park against Aussie since the mid-80s. Plus, it was nice to be there for a win!

After the game, we made our way slowly back to the train station. On the train, we were near a group of (drunk) men who were taking the piss out of each other left and right. It was hilarious, and Andrea was nearly in tears for about half the time.


When we got back to Auckland, the three of us headed back to our hostel – so Jamie and I could change before heading back to town, and so Andrea could get to bed, since she doesn’t come out with us. But by the time Jamie and I got ready and walked up the horrendous hills to the bus stop, we’d missed the last bus going into town for the night.

So we started walking. But, naturally, the weather didn’t hold out, and it started pouring before we’d gotten very far. Since we didn’t want to get a cab, and we didn’t want to waste our sweet outfits, we decided to check out what was going on in Parnell.

We walked into Denim first because they were playing M.C. Hammer, and any bar that’s playing Hammer is a bar worth going into in our book. It turns out the bar was having an 80s night, and everyone was dressed up in crazy wigs, stockings, heels, dresses, etc. We were very out of place, so decided to move on.

Two Indian girls we ran into up the street mentioned a party at a place called Vanilla. But what they didn’t mention was that it was a private party. So we felt pretty stupid when we tried to get in without an invitation.

So it was back to Denim for a while before splashing back through the rain to try a snag a few hours of sleep before our big on-the-road adventure in the morning.