One Tree Hill

Shopping and Dancing Our Day Away

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IMG_7811 Ana's (490)
IMG_7811 Ana's (463)Ana was excited to have Emma over so that someone was up in the morning with her while Kaik and I had a nice little sleep in. They enjoyed their morning tea. When I got up Ana treated me to a delicious breakfast sandwich with egg, avocado and tomato! We started our day adventure off in the direction of One Tree Hill but had a little difficulty getting there without using the GPS (since we could not remember the proper name for the park). Cromwell Park is what the GPS prefers we call it. The top had extreme winds as we were trying to not get blown over and keep the hair out of our faces while  taking pictures. We spent the majority of our time chasing sheep trying to pet them. Though Kaik got close a few times, no one actually touched a sheep. Next we headed to downtown to check out some neat shops along Queen Street and do last minute souvenir shopping, as it would be the girls’ last time downtown shopping before their departure.

IMG_7811 Ana's (464)

KP Photography

IMG_7811 Ana's (468) IMG_7811 Ana's (479)

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KP Photography

IMG_3889Emma was delighted to see a guy dressed up as the ‘Mad Hatter’ and excitedly sat down and had tea with him, on the sidewalk, with a huge smile on her face as she loves Alice in Wonderland. I found his voice to be very creepy but give him credit for putting in all the time to do the full face of makeup and dress himself in quite the elaborate outfit.

The evening was spent indulging in Grey Goose Momma Whitley so generously bought us from the duty free shop. We loved our joint Christmas present. Even with all the public transit confusion we were able to get ourselves on the right bus and rode it for about an hour until we arrived at downtown Auckland.

IMG_3938 IMG_3984We went to a bar which was half inside and had an outside portion which was pretty neat since it was a nice night. Over time the bar did seem to get a little crowded and Ana (during her kiwi-style dancing) ended up stepping on some glass. Emzie’s handy dandy band aid really came in handy.  Even though the bar wasn’t closed a yet we ventured to find yummy food, the best thing after a night out.

"This seems like a dark alley...""It's a shortcut!""Lane -Fu@k it - just take it. YOLO"[I was scared but we survived :)]

“This seems like a dark alley…”
“It’s a shortcut!”
“Lane -Fu@k it – just take it. YOLO”
[I was scared but we survived :)]

We just missed our bus and would have to wait at least 45 minutes for the next one so we chose to take a taxi home. After asking around we decided to go with the taxi that could offer us the best estimated rate. The ladies had a fun night and could finally say they had experienced the downtown night life.

Only one more day before Ana and Kaik depart for Australia 😦
I am saddened that their adventures with us are coming to an end.
One more group beach day before things get back into our daily routine.

xox Buddha Blessings,
Amanda, Ana, Emzie & Kaik

Speechless. So much to say.

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This title just took on a whole new meaning 30 seconds ago. I AM without a voice because I am sick. My little 4 year old says, “You have no sound! Will you have sound tomorrow?” That said — I have lots to tell you now. I am ALSO speechless because I just FINISHED my blog and was adding pictures to it when I accidentally deleted my WHOLE post. So angry so angry. Hate when this happens!

The weekend was amazing. Emzie and I got the sunshine we prayed for on Saturday. We walked around Sky Tower!!! The tallest man-made structure in New Zealand with views up to 80km (52miles) in every direction. *Thank you pamphlet! When we walked the SkyWalk platform we were 194 meters (636 feet) in the air. Our guide Sibohan was great. She offered us lots of “activities” we could try. Sitting backwards over the edge and leaning forwards and back were great. I just wish that the walk included a jump off the building. We watch a handful of people jumping and it took around 25 seconds for them to get down. They descended pretty slowly…I guess to make the 300$ leap worth it? I was very proud of Emzie for not letting her fear of heights get the best of her.

I kept reminding her that this was her warm up to skydiving! After our walk around the tower we took the elevator up to the Sky Deck where you can get a 360degree view of the city from 722 feet up. The elevator ride with its glass floor and windows was a neat experience. Once we got up to the top we took a ton of photos. I posted them all on Facebook if you want to take a look 🙂

We decided that we wanted to be really touristy that weekend so we drove up to the top of One Tree Hill so we could get lots of shots of New Zealand’s rolling hills and their sheep/lambs. Emma and I rocked our I love NZ shirts and fit in well with all the other tourists trying to take photos. It started to rain and got dark really fast but I still think our iPhones captured some great pictures! I wish the lighting was better but we had a fabulous time posing for all the shots.

Sunday was a nice sleep in day for me. I slept most of the morning trying to see if I could recover my voice. Emma couldn’t stop laughing at my manly husky voice air bubbled voice. Every time I tried to talk some weird sound would come out of me or I would think I was talking but no sound would come out. We took advantage of the sun and went to Mission Bay again. We got a lot of exercise walking along the beach and taking action shots of us by the water.

The weekend was great and I can’t wait to get out and see more of New Zealand.   Thanks to everyone that is reading my blog. I am trying really hard to update my Facebook photos regularly as well as my aPAD. I wish this post was as detailed as my original one 😦

My next blog will most like be about my observations since moving here.
xoxo Amanda

~~If you want to see the pictures on the blog BIGGER just click the picture and it will appear in a new window in a larger format!