First Trip to New Zealand
This was my first time travelling to New Zealand, but something that I have wanted to do for a very long time. Ever since Armageddon started in Melbourne, I had always wanted to attend a New Zealand event. So this year I found some cheap flights and my friend Jodie and I decided to travel for the event and a short Auckland trip.
We flew out of Melbourne and landed in Auckland on the 23rd October and then caught the bus to our hotel for the night. We had a wander around the city and decided to head up Auckland Sky Towe, before returning to the hotel for a chill evening and some drinks in the bar.
Aviation Museum
The next day we picked up our itty-bitty hire car for the days we were there and decided to be tourists for the day and explore some of the sights. We headed out to the zoo, but on the way we found the MOTAT Museum of Transport and Technology and decided to go there instead. The museum has a large collection of civilian and military aircraft including other land transport vehicles.
Both Jodie and I are huge Aviation lovers and were happy to be able to check out the Sir Keith Park Memorial Aviation Collection. Sir Keith Rodney Park was a New Zealand born officer in the Royal Air Force. During the second world war his leadership was pivotal to the defeat of Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britian. As well as the aircrafts on display the museum also contains memorials to Fleet Air Arm and RAF Bomber Command pilots.
Mount Eden
Our next stop was Mount Eden or Maungawhau, which is an ancestral mountain consisting of two overlapping scoria cones which erupted in close succession about 28000 years ago. The most amazing feature of this ancient volcano is the huge 50-metre-deep crater that sits in its centre. The crater is considered sacred to Māori and cannot be entered by visitors. We climbed to the summit of the mountain, enjoying the beautiful scenery and fantastic views of Auckland and its harbour.
Sky Tower
We then headed back into Auckland and had our second visit to the Sky Tower, where we went to the Orbit 360o Dining for lunch. The weather was pretty miserable at this point but we were able to enjoy our delicious lunch with amazing 360-degree panorama views of the city. The Orbit 360 restaurant is located at the top of the Sky Tower and the dining room rotates to provide a truly unique experience.
Stones in his Pockets
After being touristy for the day, we met up with a friend Lisa, whom we were sharing a hotel with over the Armageddon weekend. We headed to the PumpHouse Theatre for to watch the comedy show Stone in his Pocket, featuring Emmett Skilton and Phil Peleton. Stones in his Pockets is a moving yet hilarious tale of a quiet Irish community turned on it’s head when Hollywood film shoot takes over the village. There were fifteen different characters in the show all brought to life by the hilarious actors.
This show was absolutely hilarious and an amazing experience, we were seated in the very front row and right in the middle. With the two rows behind us completely empty we were the three picked on throughout the show but it just made the experience so much better and more hilarious. I also managed to get some awesome photos of the production from our front row seats, some of which once posted on social media were even shared by the actors.
Auckland Armageddon
Following this evet we went and had some Nando’s for dinner and then headed to our new hotel a little closer to the venue for Armageddon Auckland. (There will be a separate post for this). I spent the next four days working at the event and then after the event we headed back into Auckland, stayed at a Airbnb near the airport, returned our hire car and then headed back home. Thanks Jodie for sharing this joyous experience with me.
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