Another Picture in the Collection

The other day on Facebook I posted about whether I should get a pic in front of the Sky Tower here in Auckland wearing my goalie gear and it seems that everyone wants to see me sweat a bit but this pic wasn’t much of a challenge , I gotta be honest ... we are staying almost directly across the road from this tower so as usual the best thing to do to get these shots is to wake up super early to do it . I already scouted this shot a few days back and as you can see I am standing in the middle of the road to get the best angle . Standing directly in front of the tower was another option but probably wouldn’t get a full body shot and I could have done that with a mask on only and that totally defeats the purpose . I woke up early and dragged my photographer Kathleen out of bed by buying her a Starbucks before we did this ... I didn’t even touch my coffee and opted to jump into gear and hit the street before shit got hectic . Sun was just coming up and the roads were quiet so standing in the middle of a road would be no issue . 

We recorded a video of me leaving the room in my gear and entering the elevator and posted it and let everyone wait until I posted the pics this morning as I wanted to build some suspense lol ! When we got to the ground floor and I plodded my way to the entrance I had the concierge looking at me with a look on his face as though he was wondering if this was some acid flashback or a lost bet or something and I assured him that I’m sober and will be back in a few minutes ... he was speechless 😝 I jumped on the road and framed up some shots for Kathleen to catch good angles and instructed her to let me know if cars were coming because I had my back to traffic and without incident we got the shots needed . The streets are very quiet and the only person that passed me on the sidewalk was a drunk local with his gf (?) or companion and he had some slurred questions that I kinda nodded yes to for the most part and just made sure he didn’t pull off a drunk prank of grabbing my other stick laying on the sidewalk which he didn’t . Imagine if I would have had to tackle a homeless dude in my gear ? I would freak if Kathleen didn’t record that and probably would be more into capturing that footage more then the homeless drunk dude hahaha ! When I was happy with the pics we headed back up to the room and yes I did break a sweat but nothing like Egypt in front of the Pyramids . That was scorching heat , this was morning and cooler .... a shower is needed before we head out for the day . 

We spent way too much money yesterday getting messed up on gin and tonics at fancy bars so today the idea was to “keep it ghetto” and not spend much so after I was done washing up we got our shit together and made our way to Mt. Eden which apparently is a 30 minute hike from the hotel according to the woman at the front desk , when we asked about the hike we also booked our shuttle to the airport for the next morning which is $25 for the first person and $10 for the second which totals $35 and comparing with other routes a taxi would be around $60 and the bus is $17 each .... this is best option but the woman at front desk said why don’t we do it later ??? I looked at her and said do you want to deal with me later when I am possibly drunk or now while I’m sober .... she then booked it for us and said there would be no extra charges for luggage and we were sorted (apparently) I just can’t get over this lazy behaviour at this hotel ? Nobody wants to clean our room , people want to book things later when we are standing there with wallets in hand ? Is this a kiwi thing ? Even though the service sucks at this hotel it still stands as second best we’ve stayed in on this trip which says a lot about the other establishments 😒

We started our hike and when we got to the spot that the concierge sent us to which was a 30 minute walk we were nowhere near Mt.Eden ??? In fact we were about halfway there and had to walk further then climb up to the summit ... I sweat my bag off big time ! My shirt was soaked by the time we reached the top and got our pics near the crater and Kathleen said she would buy ice cream when we hit the first shop which by chance was just around the corner on the way down . That was so ideal and we both had some yummy ice cream and cooled down internally before making our way back to the hotel which in total both ways was a 17 km hike .... I need to do whatever I can to try to not gain weight as I’m getting pretty fat travelling and not going to a gym . Yes I do go to a gym and I’m a member before you snicker at me you dick lol 😝 when I got to my room I made a sandwich and took a nap while Kathleen went out to get her hair done at some local hair salon . Not my thang and I rather have a nap 😴 

There is an art exhibit down the road called 1000 Doors which we decided to go checkout when I awoke from my slumber . It’s cheap and cheerful at $10 per person so ideal for us to kill some time and it was creepy as heck . I’m not gonna ruin it for anyone but I will say there wasn’t 1000 Doors in the interactive art installation . We liked it and I’m sure it’s not for everyone but we were happy to experience it . I’ve had a craving for some Korean bbq and I have to admit that as much as I love the cuisine I’ve never been to a Korean joint before so today is the day as I am set in my ways and this is what I want so we find a place called Kang Nam Station  around the corner from the exhibit and go to check it out . You know it’s a good sign when you go to an ethnic restaurant and actually see people of that ethnicity frequenting the establishment so we go in and are seated . I am after Korean bbq ribs YUM 😋 and Kathleen orders a chicken fried rice styled meal with a fried egg on top and when our food arrived it was accompanied with chopsticks 🥢. I have never used them in my life and begin trying to use them and I’m sure everyone in the restaurant laughed inside looking at me fumble around and I even contemplated stabbing the food to pick it up but I didn’t and when it comes to rice ??? How the heck does that work ? Good thing they brought us spoons and for the beef .... I used my hands in my primitive manner and shut out the fact I was eating in public 🤤 laugh as you may ok but if you have never tried this before it’s truly an art which I’m not schooled in . I would have laughed at me too . 

My belly is full and it’s getting to the time where we should start packing so we don’t have to in the morning so we made our way back to our room and packed and I wrote another blog to finally catch up and then we called it a night . Auckland .... it has been a slice ! If I ever have the chance I would definitely come back and I highly suggest you do also . So much to see and do here in this beautiful city of sails .