6 Month Celebration

This weekend Dave and I went up to Auckland to celebrate our 6 month wedding anniversary. We left home around 10:30. Our first stop was the Auckland Botanical Gardens. We had visited before, but it was during winter and not many flowers were in bloom. It was a lot prettier this time around. They also had random sculptures placed through the garden as a special exhibit. Taking our time, we walked around and took in the scenery.

After the gardens we continued to my next planned even which was the Extreme Indoor Karts. It was a go-kart race track that was indoor and had two levels. You would start at the bottom, drive up a ramp, and also go under an overpass as well. We paid for a 15 minute run and were off. I wasn't quite comfortable with using both feet for pedals which is probably why Dave lapped me once. He had the fastest lap time of 25 seconds. Mine was 27.

After the go-karts we stopped at the Sylvia Park where we were going to see a movie on Saturday morning. Dave's friend had told him about a theater where you sit in bean bags. The cinema was in a shopping center, so we walked around for a little bit in the shops. I saw lots of fun stores that I would some day like to get back to and do some shopping (maybe when my mom comes out). We then headed into the city center to check into our hotel and then head out for the night.

Here is a picture of another shirt I made by hand. It took about 3 days. This one didn't take as long since I didn't have all those strips to sew together for the straps. But the bubble hem was a little complicated since I had to use elastic and have a liner in the shirt. This time I sewed in the invisible zipper correctly, so that was a good thing. All in all I think it turned out pretty well.

Online I purchased the "Big Night Out" package. The package included: 2 drink vouchers, dinner at the Fortuna Buffet Restaurant or a Chinese restaurant called Ming Court, a voucher to go up the Sky Tower, and a $15 gaming voucher at the casino. I purchase one for each of us. That night I had made reservations at the Fortuna Buffet Restaurant. Pretty much the first all-you-can-eat restaurant I've heard of in New Zealand. It was incredibly yummy. It had such a variety of foods. Pasta, meat, seafood, salads, a really tasty seafood/vegetable soup, hot chocolate, coffee, tea, and desserts. I think we each went up about 3 three times and also had dessert. The berry cheesecake was the best. After eating we went up the Sky Tower.

Looking through the glass floor at the top of the Sky Tower.

Dave leaning against the glass. We were allowed to.

We each used one of our drink vouchers at the Sky Tower Lounge. When we got to the lounge and showed the worker our vouchers, he pointed out that they were only good for drinks worth up to $6.50 which was explained in some tiny writing on the bottom. I was hoping for a mixed drink and asked for something on their cocktail list. I think it cost around $12, but the man was nice and gave it to me for free with my voucher. It was really yummy.

We headed to the casino and converted our $15 gaming vouchers for cash. First we played the 2cent slots and then headed to the bar. We used our second drink vouchers at the bar in the casino and sat down to watch a game of tennis for a while. The Australian cup is going on right now. Federer and Djokovic were playing. We took seats by the 1cent slots by the tv and played those for a while. We only used about $20 total on the slots and then walked back to the hotel.

The beanbag theater was really cool. There were 16 beanbags total. A beanbag can hold the combination of either: 2 Adults, 3 Kids, 1 Adult +2 Kids. One beanbag costs $30. The whole theater was really cool. It was huge. It had 10 regular screens, plus the Director's Lounge, Cinemaxx, and La Premiere theaters. The Director's Lounge had big leather chairs that everyone sits in. Cinemaxx is the largest 35mm cinema with a screen size of 30.6 meters wide and 13 meters high. The La Premiere has a few rows of private booths in the back where couples can sit in a double leather recliner and order drinks and a meal. It's pretty much the coolest movie theater I've ever been to.

Once the movie was finished, we drove across to Coromandel. We had been there before and climbed around. This time we were hoping to go snorkeling in Gemstone Bay, but the water was too rough.

We hiked to Cathedral Cove to see how the water was there, but the waves were huge. We decided to just swim in the water.

If any of you have seen the trailer for the new Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian movie, this picture should look familiar. They filmed right here at Cathedral Cove.