Last Saturday in Auckland...

Today was a great day. It was one of those days you can't help but smile about. :) It all started with a group luncheon on the top of the Sky Tower. We enjoyed amazing views from the observation deck:

Jess, Christine, me, Nicole, Emily

We had a great view of Rangitoto Island, where we hiked last weekend.

They had these windows in the floor all around the observation deck. It was actually kind of scary standing on top of them because it looked like you weren't standing on anything!

The group decided to dress up for our Sky Tower luncheon. As much as it looks like Anna and I planned this opposite coordination, it actually happened by accident. Apparently, we were just both feeling the black and white stripes when we woke up this morning :)

The Sky Tower is equivalent to the Seattle Space Needle. They even both have the 360-degree rotating restaurants at the top. The biggest difference with that is that I just walked around the rotating restaurant in the Space Needle, but we ate lunch at Orbitz, the rotating restaurant at the Sky Tower. It was one of those fancy five course kind of places and it was SO fun. We were not expecting it to take over 2 hours like it did, but it was YUM AS!

Here was our fabulous Sky Tower table. From left to right: Jess, Me, Janet, and Whitney. It was the perfect set up because we all got to try everyone's different courses. We ate soooo much food...

Funny story: in between taking the picture above, and the picture below, I lost my camera. When I reached for it in my bag, it wasn't there. I looked everywhere and did not understand how I suddenly did not have my camera. Then I realized that I had set my bag close to the separation of the revolving and non-revolving part of the restaurant...my camera had fallen off and stopped moving as we continued to rotate. Luckily one of the waiters had picked it up. Phew.

It all started with pineapple juice and an assortment of pastries and manuka honey to dip them in. It was some delicious flaky goodness! Then came our appetizers. Jess and I split calamari and a fun fruit plate with lime syrup and cream. I also tried Janet's baked goat cheese and Whitney's ciabatta bread. By this point we were already pretty full, but there was still so much more to come! Next we had the main course: Smoked Salmon Florentine, or in other words, eggs benedict. I've always wanted to try eggs benedict, and the waiter said it was his favorite, so I decided today was a great day to give it a try. When it came out, Jess and I were a little hesitant with the look of the poached eggs and smoked salmon, but it ended up being delicious! Along with the main course we also had salad and baby potatoes.

At this point we really were all about to burst, but we couldn't say no to dessert! Jess and I again asked the waiter what his favorites were. #2 was the Peanut and Cherry Parfait. He described it as a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but not really, but really. Ha! I'd say it was MUCH better than a PB&J.

#1 ended up being "The Chocolate. A chocolate biscuit base with a chocolate mousse dome filled with chocolate sauce and served with hazelnut ice cream. A lot of the girls didn't like this one because it was more dark and bitter chocolate, but I LOVED it. It was the perfect way to end such a delicious meal.

...and these sheep hat/mitten combos were the perfect way to end our Sky Tower adventure. :) Christine and I were cracking up about these.

After the Sky Tower, Anna and I stayed in the city, and ended up taking a bus to Mission Bay. It was the ideal afternoon at the beach. The sun was out, but it wasn't too hot. The sail boats and cityscape in the distance. And there was no one around us. We had a quiet little section all to ourselves. So quiet that I fell asleep. I wish I could take all my afternoon naps on the beach :)

After the beach, we made our way over to Eden Park for Rugby Game #2. Today the Auckland Blues played the Wellington Hurricanes. It was not as close of a game as the Blues vs. Crusaders game last month, but it was still a high energy, exciting game.

One of the best parts of the game: the sky! I know that this looks fake, but this is what the sky looked like at the beginning of the game. It was sweet as.

I couldn't believe how red the sky was! Especially in contrast to the green field. I know I look photoshopped in, but I promise it's real!

The blues played a great game--all the tries, scrumping, fast pace, everything. I still can't get over how tough these guys are, especially when we're close enough to the plays to see how brutal and rough they treat each other to get that ball. Good thing that when the kids teach us how to play this week it will only be touch rugby! The final score of the game tonight was BLUES 34, HURRICANES 17. Go Blues! Woot woot!

Today was the last Saturday that I'll be in Auckland. Next Saturday I'll be in Rotorua. The next Saturday I'll be up north at Bay of Islands. The next Saturday I'll be in Australia. And then the next Saturday I'll be in AMERICA. It is absolutely crazy how time flies.