A day in Auckland

We spent Friday in Auckland, the City of Sails and badly behaved weather. It went from being the hottest day in 137 years yesterday to a cooler, overcast day today. We arrived late last night in humid rain. Out came the umbrellas.

We're in Auckland for my sweetie's Christmas present; I had got him tickets to see Top Gear Live. Our time frame for Saturday is really quite tight, so we decided to see the Top Gear Exhibition a day before the show instead of at the same time. A very wise decision. Being a Friday afternoon, most of Auckland were still at work, school, or stuck in traffic, so we had open access to almost everything and very little waiting.

There were cars and cars and cars on display. Funny that! As expected, there were lots of car-related products and car enthusiast sales persons ... and then, something for me: competitions! Yes, I entered about eight competitions for a whole range of prizes; some I wouldn't mind winning and others I have no idea what they are, but that's not the point, really. Just the fact that I could win something is enough to draw me in. (It also got me a free sample of some miracle car cleaning product. Apparently it also does your shower; I wonder if he would have brought that up if he was trying to sell it to a guy?)

My sweetie had a go at driving a few laps of Bathurst on an advanced motion stimulator. And then a hyper stimulator. He took photos of the car he thinks he wants me to buy him. (I'm surprised by his choice; it was clunky, and not purple!)

Another highlight of this trip was being able to spend some time with my closest friend (goal #4). I don't get up to Auckland very often and she very rarely makes it down to Wellington, so this goal is a real treat for me. It was also the first time she got to meet my sweetie. (If you're a girl, you'll know how important this is.)

I met my best friend during our first week at teacher's college in 1993. She was studying in Wellington for two years, then spent the next few years following her partner around various towns and cities the North Island before settling in Auckland. 14 years, a husband and two children later (hers, not mine!), our friendship has largely developed over the phone. (She's only just recently managed to join the 2oth century and get Internet access at home - even though it's now the 21st century!) Dinner at her house tonight was the usual chaos of family and food; I love knowing that things don't change with us. Every time we meet up or talk, it picks up where we left off. I could go on, but let's just say that I feel really lucky to have such a long, enduring friendship.