It's all backwards, or is it?

Of course, the article I wrote, broken up into a number of posts, should be read from the earlier posts first... I should have posted them in reverse order, but alas, I had not the foresight. No.

Anyway, enjoy.

Churches

If, after the biggest spiritual gathering of the weekend at Mt Smart, you decide you want to head to church again on Sunday (or whatever day of the week you choose to worship)… there are plenty of those about too. There are mosques and other temples around Auckland (we are a rather multi-cultural city) and perhaps even the huge temple in East Tamaki is finished now (it was under construction in 2004)… but my particular flavour is the born again Christian variety with a hint of evangelical and pentecostal.

My home church is a mid size pentecostal place, Elim Community Church, 74 Cook St in the City, www.ace.org.nz – service times etc on the website. If you want a large (like, thousands!) flashy place frighteningly similar to Hillsong, then head to CLCA in Mt Eden Road. (http://www.clca.org.nz/) A smaller laid back Anglican Church, St Pauls, in Symonds Street, in town, is cool too. (http://www.stpauls.org.nz/) There is the Urban Vineyard Church in Newton Gully if you’re near there… http://www.vineyard.org.nz. Finally, a youth driven rocky church well planted on The Rock (excuse the easy pun there) is Christian City Church on Newton Road. (http://www.ccc.org.nz/).

If you know your flavour then you’ll probably know where to look anyway…

Enjoy.

Musical Instrument Stores

For the musicians amongst us, the biggest collection of guitars, drum gear, basses, keyboards, and hi tech and DJ gear in one place belongs firmly in the land of NZ RockShops – the ‘blue shops’ just at the top of Queen Street on K’Rd. They have (smaller) branches around the city, and around the country for that matter. (http://www.rockshop.co.nz)

The competition, is worth a look, too: There’s Atwaters Musicworks on Hobson St, and Musicworks Greenlane has a good range of guitars too, but not so much in one place. Nice bunch of guys in the shops too. Just don’t play any smoke on the water. (http://www.musicworks.co.nz/)

Music Stores

There’s a chain of stores called Planet Jack which have really good (cheap!) deals on new cd’s and you’ll find new releases often for $25-28, something only a month or so old you may find for $20. Or less.

If you are after a serious CD/DVD shopping frenzy, try either Marbecks in the Queens Arcade the bottom on Queen St (they have another store also on Queen St itself a few blocks uptown) and toward the top of Queen St is Real Groovy Records – a bit of a legend store, and home to the recent and infamous overnight queues for U2 tickets! Sometimes a bit pricey on the mainstream commercial new releases, but a treasure trove of vinyl, rare releases, long-forgottens and bargains bins! DVD’s, clothes, games and a large selection of music books too.

OK, some touristy places to visit!

One Tree Hill - There’s extensive writings elsewhere on the story and history of the hill, and now infamously without a tree - but we will all know it from The Joshua Tree, and one must head there for a visit. Within One Tree Hill Domain and Cornwall Park, the hill is our second highest volcanic cone (just pipped at the post by Mt Eden), and has great views. And hey, it’s One Tree Hill!!

Piha beach/West Auckland beaches. Given a half day to take a drive and a walk, heading to Piha (or perhaps Bethells Beach or Kare Kare where Neil Finn has a house and studio) is one of the first places I love to take people. Black sand and sea air, and some pretty good surfing for those for are keen, walking along piha beach… it’s just a kiwi experience!

Parnell I didn’t mention it specifically before, but it’s a historic village really, great little shops, just up the road from the city, great cafes, bars, restaurants, and The Chocolate Shoppe and café. Must see!

Tamaki Drive/Mission Bay When the sun is shining, take a drive, play some mini golf, laze about. Magic. And very Auckland.

Imax Complex/Village Force Cinemas/Borders Queen Street. The Imax might be no more, but one of the coolest building complexes built in recent history. Aucklands City fathers in the past have destroyed plenty of historic architecture for tall glass uglies… but this one was great, particularly as you head up the escalators to the ticket desks for the cinema. Don’t get vertigo. Ahem.

Civic Theatre – Queen St. One of the few cool old theatres we have. An icon of sorts. Recently refurbished. Great place to see a gig or show, keep an eye out.

Shopping

OK, now I’ve gone completely overboard describing just some of the food to be enjoyed in the city, time for you girls (and some guys of course) to go shopping mad!

Newmarket is still ‘king of the shops’, with large mall 277 and main drag Broadway packed to the gills with fashion distraction. Take the train or Link Bus from town, or park for free (with receipt over $5) for 2 hours in 277. Blokes can nip off to the CD Store, or Sony Shop if they need a gadget fix, but meet up again for sushi at St Pierre’s in 277 or head for a movie at The Rialto Cinema if it all gets too much. There’s Auckland’s Museum and The Domain (our slightly smaller answer to Hyde or Central Park) at the North end of Newmarket too. http://www.newmarket.net.nz/

The City, the general term for the CBD, lagged behind Newmarket for quite a few years, but it has improved a lot, and would sneak into second place. Convenient too, if you can afford the parking. Or take a bus All the usual retail traps, plenty of food too.

But really, that’s just scratching the surface. One of the biggest malls in the country at St Lukes in Mt Albert, and others in ‘city centres’ of West City in Henderson (err, West! ) Glenfield, Takapuna (both North Shore), Manukau City (South) and Botany Town Centre (East).

Fine Dining

While in Ponsonby, for Italian style, go for Prego. Simply beautiful, and certainly lots of atmosphere (ie, quite loud!).

Cibo, in lower Parnell on the way to Mechanics Bay, has some of the best service around, and food as you would rightly expect for $30-35 main courses. Gorgeous.

Mikano in Mechanics Bay is one of our favourites. We love it because we can go there and get a relaxed brunch for $14, or head for dinner for the $25-30 mains, and it’s all top service all the way. Watch the helicopters take off from the heliport there, and enjoy some of the best seafood in Auckland. Name drop; last time we went for dessert, we sat down next to Jonah Lomu. That doesn’t happen every day!

One of the flashest places I’ve ever eaten is White, in the Hilton Hotel at the end of Princes Wharf. Stunning food and service. Mains circle the $40 mark and the desserts are appropriately decadent. If you cant go that pricey, head in for brunch. You might get away within $30 for breakfast and a drink, but check the website for details. http://www.hilton.co.nz/ Great views over the harbour too.

Also on Princes Wharf, back down to earth pricing-wise is a lovely little Spanish café called Limon, great atmosphere and reasonable prices.

Oh, being an Aucklander, I must mention the Sky Tower – visible from 95% of the homes in the city…there’s no better view over a menu than the one at the revolving restaurant Orbit, at the top. I’ve heard varying reports about the other (buffet) restaurant The Observatory, but a group of us very-much enjoyed our table and meals at Orbit one Saturday night last year. At 300-odd metres high, it’s a tall stick, and worth the $18pp ticket to just go up and check out the view. But if you’re going for a meal, factor that into your meal prices, and well into the thirties per main doesn’t look so bad after all. And you get to sit in a nice comfy chair and the restaurant will do the walking for you, as it does a full 360° rotation in about an hour. Oh, and for a couple of hundred bucks you can throw yourself off the top. Then there’s the $50-odd for the t-shirt…

Eating out - general note: A couple of facts – while tipping is not compulsory, the fine dining places will generally add a tip to your bill these days, and you can spare a thought for the staff of most cafes via a glass or jar on the counter when you pay for your bill. A lot of the lower to mid price cafes may be pay at the counter, and not table service, and no (formal) tipping. Bear that in mind. Also, a 15% surcharge will be added to your bill on a public holiday following recent legislation changes to make sure employers pay (appropriately) special rates on public holidays.

I’ve been in London a while now, so tipping is on the brain. It’s not everywhere in NZ, but it’s about. Follow your nose on that one.

Mt Eden, Ponsonby, Devonport

There are a few smaller centres beyond the cbd which we would regularly frequent for both food and shopping; Mt Eden Village shops, Ponsonby, and Devonport:

Mt Eden

A smaller ‘local spot’ with quite a few cafés, a couple in particular which are high on our shortlist: Frasers on the corner of Mt Eden Road and Stokes Road. The coffee is excellent, and my wife has converted me to the sticky date-cake with hot caramel sauce. Awesome stuff – so you may not want to share, but it’s big enough! It was less than $5 last time I was there too. Bargain. Meals range from the soup at around $6 to somewhere closer to $18 from memory. The chicken ‘stack’ sandwich with mango-salsa is delicious.

On a general note, a coffee most places should cost you $3-3.50. Any more than $4 and you’re getting rather pricy, except Starbucks. They cost more, but they give you more I guess. They’re taking over Auckland just as they are the rest of the western world, so if you’re a fan, you won’t need to look far.

The other place we’ve eaten at a bit is Escape. It sits at the top end of the ‘midrange’, with prices into the 20’s, but then, you’re getting what you pay for. They have a Cream Brule with blueberries in the bottom which is absolutely world class. The other reason we quite like Escape is that’s where we got engaged. That will help the atmosphere every time!

Also in the village is the Belgian Beer Pub De Post which I’ve mentioned, another pretty good café called Circus Circus (with rather fun décor as you might imagine), a couple of gift shops, a great little book shop, and a Burger Wisconsin down the southern end of things. And you even can grab a drive-through kebab on the corner of Mt Eden and Valley Roads, opposite the church.

Don’t forget to take a drive (or a walk if you’re keen) up Mt Eden, one of the best views of the city to be had.

Ponsonby

Quite possibly the longest continual lineal gathering of shops and cafés in the city, Ponsonby Road stretches from College Hill in the North, all the way to K’Rd/Newton Gulley in the South. That’s got to be at least 1500m of retail wandering, and that’s if you stick to one side of the street! If you start at the North end, and don’t miss Milly’s kitchen shop for all, well, the kitcheny stuff.

Where do I begin – at the cheaper end of the scale, there’s Cezanne - big tasty chicken Caesar salad for a mere £13, and awesome hot chocolates (just along the road Milly’s). The previously-ranked best-burgers at Burger Fuel, and rival Wisconsin, a great kebab place called Fatimas (you must try the potato Koftas), healthy wraps and fine coffee at Duo. There are loads and loads of places, and so many do breakfast and brunch too; try Café 39 for a start. Top coffee at Atomic Coffee Roasters too.

Sliding up the scale slightly to a very good, and popular gourmet pizza restaurant One Red Dog, where the Chicken Cranberry and Brie pizza is a big drawcard. Cram you and your mates into a cosy booth for four, and order one or two of their freshly cooked garlic loaf while you figure out what pizzas to order. Stepping up again is GPK (Gourmet Pizza Konnection) where you can get very tasty pizzas for sure, but they’re much more ‘white table cloth and service’ kind of place, and the main meals on the a la carte menu are really top class. Fine dining, with pizza options! Expect to be spending closer to $50 pp for an evening meal experience. Well, as with most of these places, the sky is the limit.

The upper-mid priced Thai at Sawadee at the south end of Ponsonby Road is very tasty too. Also look out for Bollywood which is reportedly one of the top Indian restaurants in the city, but I cannot speak from experience on that one (google ‘bollywood ponsonby’ and watch the html fly). There’s a lot of good Indian places about, however. One I have tried is in Mt Eden, on Mt Albert Road in the small section between Hillsborough and Mt Eden Roads. A small unassuming place, but that’s often the best kind.

Food – Low-Mid Price

Ok, if you want a little atmosphere with your food, and you are on a budget bigger than the average students’, read on.

Before I totally get away from burgers, the two gourmet chains hitting-it-out for top spot on the ladder are Burger Fuel and Burger Wisconsin. You’d get a big burger, a drink, and chips if you have the room for about $15pp. I think B.F. easily takes the prize but there are those who would pick a fight. Try B.F.’s ‘Bacon Burnout’ or ‘Ford FreakOut’ and then argue with me! Wisconsin’s ‘Chicken Bacon Avocado’ (about $10) was my favourite before I got fuelled.

The best pizza in Auckland goes to Mama Mia’s in Mission Bay. Get a small ‘special’ takeaway (Standard is $13 – but I like to add olives and anchovies for the perfect pizza experience) and grab bottle (or a coke) from the wine shop a few doors down – and sit on the sea wall along the beach, or on the grass by the fountain.
It’s quite a lot more expensive eat-in, takeaway is the way to go. I’m not sure whether they’ve restricted alcohol in the open area – you might want to check for signs – I think they only have restrictions at New Years’ and Guy Fawkes. There may be restrictions in the CBD too, ask at your hotel or wherever you are buying your drinks from.

Mission Bay is lovely, and it should be still warm enough for a relaxed dinner at dusk, or a late night rendezvous under the stars.

You’ll notice a large and well proportioned island in the harbour – it’s a long dormant volcano called Rangitoto – don’t wake her up or she’ll make a heck of a mess! You should have passed Ferg’s Kayaks on the way to the bay from the city; you can take a kayak tour from there and paddle out if you want. Climb to the top, check out the spectacular view, paddle home. It’s reportedly a great way to spend the good part of a day.

Also in Mission Bay is a great Belgian Beer pub/restaurant/place called De Fontain. Top food, great beer, and the mains are around $20, or masses of mussels and frites with mayonnaise for about $15. They’ve also got sister restaurants in Mt Eden (De Post) and one in Takapuna on the North Shore.

If you love being around the water, Auckland is well set up, with harbours closing in on either side. There’s been a lot of development downtown over the past 10-15 years for the America’s Cup Regattas, so the Viaduct Harbour area is now a priority to anyone visiting the city. Loads of restaurants and bars, apartment blocks and shops line the water where you often see some very expensive boats parked up next to the few fishing boats that remain. If you haven’t tried stone-grill eating before, head to Degree in the Viaduct, on the left just as you walk in from Commerce Street. While I prefer to have my meal cooked for me, you have to do it at least once. They will bring you out a preheated stone and then the raw meat (say, some prawns or a steak) of your choice and you cook it on the hotplate piece by piece. Certainly a unique way
to go, and you can’t complain if the chef overcooks your steak.

Food – Cheap Eats:

OK, starting at the cheaper end of the market: Wandering around Auckland you will see the usual major burger chains, McDonalds, Burger King, etc, and Subway are taking over now too; but if you want slightly better quality at around the same money you can’t go passed Wendys – the best chips (fries!) of the lot, and the burgers are made fresh for you, so no hot wilting lettuce from the warmer. They’re spread a little less liberally around the place, so ask a local, someone will point you in the right direction.

If you love your Asian/oriental food and have less than $10 to feed and water yourself, try Mercury Plaza in Mercury Lane, just off Karangahape Road (more commonly known as K’Rd) in the city. My meal of choice is the Mee Goring (a spicy noodle dish with a combination of meats) from the Singapore Fried Noodle place (on the right, facing the carpark) for $6.50 that will feed two for lunch. I’m a big guy and tend to only get 3/4’s of the way through it on the best of days. My wife prefers the Chicken Cashew Thai from the other end of the food hall. Hot, fresh, pretty healthy and very cheap. Get your drinks from the market on the upper level. Don’t expect any flash surroundings though, it’s a very cheap place and it shows. And don’t use the restrooms - just take my word for it. But the food areas are clean and the food is great, parking is free too.

Nearly 20% of Auckland’s population are from South East Asia; China, Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Korea etc…(I hesitate to say ‘etc.’ but you get the point!) and subsequently there are loads of Asian restaurants about – and a number of cheaper ‘all in one food courts’ like Mercury. In the downtown area, look for one on the lower end of Albert St. There’s a good Korean café toward the top of Queen Street on the left. Look for one with a ‘purple sign with orange lettering’… or was it ‘an orange sign with…’ Anyway; try the BBQ chicken (about $7) which comes out on a sizzling platter. I get mine with added chilli. Great stuff!

A not-so-brief guide to Auckland for the foreign Vertigo seeker… by a far flung vertigonner…

Well, I’ll leave the geography lessons for your favourite rough guide map book, and the general touristy stuff to the web: I’m sure we’re all rather cyber-aware, but humour me: Head on over to www.google.co.nz and do a ‘pages from NZ only’ search on ‘Auckland’ and you should come up with a bunch of useful sites. And a whole pile of less useful ones I’m sure! A quick glance over the first page will get you to sites about two of the leading universities, the art gallery, the zoo, and the extensive and very politically-correct official tourism site www.aucklandnz.com.

One thing I certainly didn’t know of my home city was this: “In the Maori language, Auckland is known as Tamaki Makau Rau, the city of 100 lovers. It earned this name because it was a place desired by all and conquered by many.”

So yes, anyway! Happy surfing…

I hope to keep things pretty laid back, and take you on a tour of the places I might go to, should you find yourself sitting in the back of a Subaru Legacy I was driving; windows down, early Autumn sun shining (in between the frequent passing showers), listening to Dismantle, and anticipating a great gig at the end of the week. So, we’ve a few days to kill, now we just have to figure out how!

I’m assuming you’ve gotten a taxi or shuttle bus from the airport, found somewhere to stay, and dumped your bags somewhere. Or you’ve if got a rental car, leave it at Aunty Jenny’s, it’ll be much more relaxing cruising with me…

Actually, on that note, if you’re coming from overseas - and don’t have any local mates to play taxi – Auckland is a big sprawling city, and it’s transport network is in it’s infancy: Renting a car for stays more than a day or so is highly recommended. Shop around on the net, it’s not too expensive.

Us Aucklanders love our cars.

Of course there are bus services about the place (to avoid completely knocking the public transport!), and in particular there is a very good loop-bus that runs between The City, Parnell, Newmarket, The Museum and Hospital, and back to the city again. K’Rd too. Check it out at http://www.stagecoach.co.nz/thelink/index.html

Finally, and to try to make things a little more useful, I will try to put brandnames, restaurant or shop titles etc., in italics , and placenames or regions in bold type. Got that? Right… But not ‘Auckland’ – you already know what city you are in. And all prices quoted (and occasionally guessed) are in New Zealand Dollars ($NZD).