This weekend was full of adventures! Saturday morning we took the train to Downtown Auckland. I was in heaven. I absolutely love the city, but downtown Auckland was the icing on the cake. I wish I could spend every weekend there. We checked out some shops and it was definitely a sign that I belonged there when the first store I spotted was a LuLu. I could’ve spent all my money right there, but I didn’t. We stopped at a cute coffee shop to get some coffee and I ordered a short black coffee, thinking it was like a small coffee. Nope, it was a shot of the strongest coffee I ever tasted in my life. I learned my lesson. For lunch, we stopped at a well-known ice cream place called Gelato. I’ve never seen an ice cream place this fancy, I even had to use a key fob to use their bathroom. For being someone who doesn’t like ice cream that much, I will tell you it was well worth the $14. The chief decorated my ice cream right in front of me and made it super artsy. After checking out some shops we took the ferry to Devonpart and explored around there for a couple of hours. We climbed to the top of Mount Victoria, which was less than ideal in rain boots, but the view made up for it in a heartbeat. It was beautiful. Pictures do not do it justice. We headed back to the city for dinner and enjoyed dinner at a restaurant called Head Quarters, which was right on the water and had some super funky seating. It was an amazing day filled with lots of memories!
We got home Saturday night and booked flights to Queenstown!!!! I cannot wait!! As we were booking our flights I spotted a spider in my bedroom and it was the worst experience of my life. Yes, I am very dramatic, but I do not like spiders one bit and none of my brothers were there to kill it for me. I was crying in fear and made Kelly stand on the ledge to kill it after she spent a good couple of minutes just laughing. Spiders are not my thing. At all. Thank goodness she saved the night.
Today was also a lot of fun. Gavin (our host dad) took us to check out some really cool views around Auckland. He also took us to Piha beach. The sand was black and super sparkly. I was in shock at how big the waves were only to find out that those waves were actually small compared to what they normally are. I love the beach, so I was so happy it was a nice day and we were able to go!!! Tonight, we had a Halloween party with our host family and all of their kids & grandchildren. We played some Halloween games and hung out. Viv, (our host mom) even gave us Halloween costumes to wear, she is so cute! It was a very busy weekend and I am definitely exhausted! I am loving every moment of being in New Zealand and I am so lucky to be here.
