Weekend in Auckland

We're going to dive right into a rundown of the most FABULOUS weekend I just had in Auckland, but firstly I just have to mention this pasta that my brother-in-law made us when he came to NP for a visit the other week.  Linguine amatriciana.  Amazing.  Quickly rocketed into my top five meals of all time.

We had some more wild and windy weather last week, and as I type we're awaiting the arrival of another cyclone.  For my girls, watching the trees toss in the wind is better than tv at the moment.

Right so, Auckland.  Where to start.  Let's go right back to the beginning.  I had to get up in the dark to catch my flight, but all was running smoothly.  Until I parked at the airport and turned around to do a quick final check that I hadn't left anything in the car.  Two baby seats still in the back.  Leaving B with no way to transport the girls around while I was gone.

Yes - this was a child-free trip away!

Anyway, I said an expletive word before throwing the car into Drive and speeding back home, flinging the car seat at the back door step, and then racing back to the airport to arrive in a clammy sweat with about two minutes to spare.

Luckily things went pretty smoothly after that.  I only had one night away but two full days and we packed in plenty of eating, drinking, talking, and did I mention eating.

L had found us an apartment in a great location in the middle of Auckland, and it even had an excellent array of hideous hotel room art.

We went out for a delicious breakfast at Giraffe, and then we climbed Mount Eden to atone for our calorific sins.

We unself-consciously took wanky photos.

We window shopped, we ate sushi for lunch in the sun, before returning to the apartment and indulging in superior nibbles and bubbles.

We did some more pretending to be wankers.  Where does the pretending end and the being begin I wonder...?

We soaked in a beautiful sunset.

We went to Botswana Butchery for dinner, where we drank....

...and we ate.  I was too busy stuffing my face to remember to take photos of anything other than the dessert.

The following day we breakfasted at Oyster & Chop, then walked around Auckland, we shopped at leisure, we workshopped and debriefed, drank champagne and scoffed Maltesers and we laughed.  How we laughed.  Big, teary-eyed, snorting, wheezing, therapeutic, ugly laughing.

One thing that made this weekend extra special for me was a certain shopping expedition, which if we're friends on Facebook or Instagram you would already know all about.  But I have to record it here for posterity. 

I went into the Louis Vuitton store, and chose, and then bought, a much longed for bag.  I will probably write an entire post on this saga but for now suffice it to say that this is a shopping trip 20 years in the making.

It rounded out what was already a gold star weekend.  The whole thing went so fast it felt like a dream the moment I stepped onto the bus to the airport. 

Luckily I have Louis here to remind me that it was not, in fact, a dream.