Pick-a-path story walk: Auckland edition

Travelling for work or business can be an adventure made all the more fun if you have time to explore a new neighbourhood. It might a restaurant I've seen online, coffee recommended by the Twitterverse or a scenic walk. Of course, meeting schedules don't always allow time for exploring, especially if I'm flying in and out on the same day.

I know Auckland's CBD reasonably well but mostly in the context of getting there, finding where I need to go, going to where I need to be and then making my way back to the airport bus with greatest possible efficiency. Often I'm travelling with a friend. We usually have coffee and brunch at Depot, check out luxury homeware that we can't afford and enjoy a treat at Milse on the way to a concert.

Today, I had a few spare hours to explore Auckland's CBD. What would I do? Twitter gave me an idea for an activity that took my navigating to a whole new level.

Imagine a real life choose your own adventure story-style right in the area you're working and staying! That's the Pick-a-path story walk: Skub or No Skub that begins by reading instructions on a lamp post at the corner of Commerce and Tyler Streets and ends wherever your adventure takes you.

There is a basic website with all the pages if you get stuck or discover a missing page. It's not optimised for mobile phones so is a bit clunky to read but came in handy when I couldn't find the next clue. (I think my adventure had two missing pages as I could only see plastic ties around the lamp posts holding what should have been laminated pages.) Also, this Wellingtonian found Google Maps invaluable as I didn't always get a sense from the basic maps on the pages where I should be going and where to look once I got there. (Side note: there sure is a lot of building and construction going on in Auckland right now. Streets and landmarks look quite different if you only visit once every year or two!)

I won't give away any spoilers other than to say that my adventure happened in eight pages. They took me around several blocks before coming to a rather unfortunate end involving a "messy descent into conflict" and my character being arrested on unknown charges. *gasp!*

This is a really cool activity idea and one that would be great for creative folk in other towns and cities to develop for their own communities.

Afternoon tea with Wedgewood

Perhaps the height of foodie decadence comes in the form of Sunday afternoon tea with Wedgwood at The Langham hotel. I'd heard so many rave reviews about this high tea and so booked our places well in advance. The hotel restaurant were happy to accommodate our group's various dietary requirements. We decided to be ladies and wear pretty dresses for the event. Palm Court is an elegant lobby lounge bar with high backed chairs placed underneath a huge chandelier. A harpist serenaded us as we arrived and all during afternoon tea.

The food was simply exquisite. There were no less than twenty (20!) items on the menu to be served in five courses along with two beverages each. There was an extensive tea menu, the usual coffees and juices, plus choices of white, milk or dark hot chocolate.

Afternoon tea menu

We were informed that food would be delayed so started with coffee. Three courses of food arrived on a tiered stand and two more were brought out as afternoon tea progressed.

Langham afternoon tea

We began with sandwiches in the middle tier of the stand. The test of afternoon tea is often the quality and freshness of the sandwiches, which should be made or cut at the last minute. These were beautifully soft and fresh. The goat cheese, watercress and pecan triangle sandwich was a highlight.

Sandwiches

The savouries on the bottom tier were a little bit different. I enjoyed the chilled cucumber soup with crab salad and the black garlic, lamb and cream cheese profiterole.

Savouries

After finishing the sandwich and savoury courses, a plate of plain and cherry scones were served with specialty jams and clotted cream. Finally, and with the clock ticking, it was time for the dessert tier.

Sweets

There were so many sweet items that we packed most of them into a takeaway box to eat later at our hotel. Delicate white chocolate macarons with raspberry filling, strawberry tartlet, pina colada verrine and a marshmallow pop cake dipped in dark chocolate and nuts were favourites for me. As we were leaving, we asked about the final three cake items on the menu and took home samples of dark chocolate torte, Battenberg cake and summer swiss roll.

At $64 for a weekend sitting, this a very expensive afternoon tea. It's pretty much a double high tea: double the food, double the drinks and double the price but in the same amount of time as a regular high tea. Having said that, there were so many food selections that we didn't need dinner afterwards and thankfully didn't have lunch either - plus there were plenty of leftovers to take home and enjoy for a midnight feast.

Milse

Foodies, here's one for you. Milse is a tiny but exquisite dessert restaurant hiding away in Auckland's Britomart area. You enter through an ornately carved cocoon-like tunnel and pass the counters of freshly baked goodies before reaching a tiny atrium containing just four tables for two.

Tables can't be booked in advance but it's worth waiting for one to become available and savour the full Milse experience. While you're waiting, you can sit on one of the bar stools overlooking the kitchen, watch the patissiers at work and take in all the delicious aromas. They move about so calmly (unlike in my kitchen!) and make it all look so easy.

It was incredibly hard to decide what to order. The patisserie menu is extensive and describes the contents of the counters you walk past on your way into the restaurant. Get ready for some serious drooling.

After much deliberation, and because it was a hot sunny afternoon, we settled on the special sundae of the day along with espresso and iced chocolate to drink. Caramel gelato with caramelised orange and marmalade topped with chocolate biscuit pieces and crumbled toasted macadamia nuts, this sundae was more than enough for two to share. It was simply amazing, not too sweet and with each flavour complementing rather than overpowering the others.

Special sundae

The a la carte menu is available after 6 pm and the gelato sticks also looked good to take away. Dessert at Milse is everything you've heard and more.

An Auckland affair

My relationship with Auckland spans many years. It's not an entirely amicable relationship and usually involves a quick dash into the city to attend to whatever business I have there (a conference, a concert), quickly rushing over to the North Shore to visit my best friend and her family, then a relieved trip to the airport to go home again to Wellington. It's not to say that I hate Auckland, but our on-again off-again affair is always punctuated by frequent bad weather and general feelings of wanting to be elsewhere.

I am currently in Auckland on a mini-break while my sweetie is working here. I have loose plans to meet up with people but also a day to just hang out in downtown Auckland all by myself. What to do? I consulted the experts, aka the Auckland Twitterverse, for a few suggestions about the basics: food, coffee, gelato, sushi, etc. The ideas came thick and fast. Awesome!

We had dinner last night at Raviz Indian Cuisine in town, where our curries came with a satisfactory bite. We then got to meet Giapo, world famous in the Twitterverse and conveniently located just a block or two from our hotel. My first choice was the heavenly stracciatella over cookies and cream gelato. He gave us lots of other samples to try, so we'll definitely be back too see what other delights he has for us.

This morning, I spent a few hours wandering around downtown Auckland based on the recommendations of complete strangers. What an amazing way to see a city - through the eyes of other people! First up, after eating breakfast and reading the newspaper in the sun, I headed down Lorne Street. There are lots of little gems tucked away here and in its side streets, some of which resemble the outdoor malls of Melbourne. It's amazing to realise that all this is just one street over from the grimness of Queen Street and its multitude of stores selling sushi and tacky goods imported from Asia.

Egg roll hamburger

I was looking for La Caroume Bakery after reading about Delissimon's experience there. This gorgeous bakery makes the most creative cakes and buns and smells divine from the moment you walk in the door. I bought something called an egg roll hamburger to have for lunch. It looked like nothing I'd ever seen before and I was curious about whether it be savoury or sweet. It turned out to be a savoury treat set inside a delicate bread-type bun - a really unusual taste sensation.

Then it was coffee time. In Wellington, it is a common sight to see people in transit cradling a takeaway coffee cup in their hand. This is something I had never really associated with Auckland before but see this is now changing. Coffeeslewth had recommended Grind on High - great choice! This tiny café was positively humming mid-morning as a cast of regulars shuffled their way into its retro interior. I would never have found Grind on my own and can see why it is popular; baking fresh from the oven looked too good to resist and the service was unbelievably friendly. I enjoyed a freshly baked pesto cheese scone with my cappuccino. Bliss.

I ventured further down to the waterfront and saw a man walking around wearing a bright pink raincoat done up around the waist. I have no idea why this intrigued me so much; each to their own, I guess! Valentino's Gelato was my destination (another recommendation from Coffeeslewth) but I felt that eating gelato at 11am on a Friday was too indulgent even for my standards, so that will have to go on to tomorrow's list.

Auckland, I am delighted to see how you have grown up. I am warming to our sporadic affair and imagine it will continue for years to come. Don't worry, Wellington, I still love you the best. After all, there's no place like home, but I'm enjoying getting to know Auckland better.

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.

The Police and Fergie in concert

After a long saga which involved buying tickets for two concerts and flying between three cities, a friend and I made it to The Police concert at Western Springs in Auckland on Saturday night.

Fiction Plane started the concert with an average performance; nothing really wrong, but not much to grab my attention either. Fergie and her entourage were in fine form. Her band was made up of outstandingly talented musicians and her dancers added both colour and character. I was impressed with her Black Eyed Peas medley and some of her other rock medleys, although there were a few questionable inclusions there. The dance-off during costume changes was a great feature and really showed off the talent of the backup dancers.

The Police were back in New Zealand after a 27 year break, and family and friends had raved about the Wellington concert. I wasn't disappointed. With such a full sound, it's sometimes difficult to remember that The Police are simply a three-piece band, with no backup musicians, second guitarists, extra vocalists, etc (apart from a faint click-track on some numbers).

For me, there are always 1-2 songs at a concert that colour my whole experience. I was looking out for two things here: the drum interlude in Walking on the Moon, and the whole of Roxanne (pure magic, as far as I'm concerned). While I didn't get what I wanted from Walking on the Moon, Roxanne was fabulous. Plenty of other highlights and, overall, a very slick performance ... will wait until I get back to Welly to do the full post-mortem with my muso dad, who used my concert ticket on Thursday night.