so i left off on thursday night. sometime during thursday night or friday linnell got emails from various aucc people about how 1. we may or may not be able to get a ride back on sunday from the trip 2. we probably weren't going to have kayak transportation, so we would maybe get to raft but not kayak 3. there was another trip that the instructors planned but it was full 4. the trip we were going on, planned by lee, wasn't club approved or anything, which is why there were so many problems 5. The Killer Bees and the Tribesmen, 2 major nz gangs, were having their annual "meeting" in the same area we would be in, and might be camping where we were planning on camping.
linnell had about a 24 hr mental breakdown about whether or not to go, and was very angry at lee and herself because had she talked to someone earlier we could have been in on the trip with the instructors. i told her repeatedly that we should not go, and reassured her that we would have a good weekend anyway, and i looked for some stuff for us to do. eventually she decided that we didn't have a tent or anything yet, and it wasn't really worth it. so we decided not to go, so then i got to plan!
i decided we would go to the sky tower one day because we had been talking about maybe doing that (but it would be a bit costly, so i figured that i wasn't spending the $30 for kayaking plus gas money, so i could spend that on the skytower) and then we would do the coast to coast walk across auckland. i researched the skytower because we had gotten lots of different information regarding costs (because there are like 50 different levels and options you can chose from) and i decided the best deal would be to go to the revolving restaurant, orbit. there was a $30 minimum per person there, but you got to go up to the observation deck for free if you go to orbit, and just going up to the observation deck would have cost $25 so we figured it was worth it. so i made a reservation for lunch on saturday.
i decided we would go to the sky tower one day because we had been talking about maybe doing that (but it would be a bit costly, so i figured that i wasn't spending the $30 for kayaking plus gas money, so i could spend that on the skytower) and then we would do the coast to coast walk across auckland. i researched the skytower because we had gotten lots of different information regarding costs (because there are like 50 different levels and options you can chose from) and i decided the best deal would be to go to the revolving restaurant, orbit. there was a $30 minimum per person there, but you got to go up to the observation deck for free if you go to orbit, and just going up to the observation deck would have cost $25 so we figured it was worth it. so i made a reservation for lunch on saturday.
all this planning took friday morning (i also patched linnell's jeans finally) and we did some other random chore-ish stuff, i don't really remember. then we went to linnell's two afternoon classes, and then linnell went to step class, then we had ih dinner, and then nelly worked on her project and i read one of my books that i had taken out from the ih library.
so saturday we got up and linnell went to step class againnnnn and then we got fancied up and went to the sky tower. you can't actually go in the bottom of the tower, you have to go into another building in the "sky city" (all the buildings on the same block as the sky tower, owned by one company. there are 2 casinos and 2 hotels and a bunch of restaurants and some other assorted tourist things) and take an escalator down underground to the base of the tower and check in and then get on the elevator which took us up to the observation deck. the elevator has a hole cut in the middle of the floor with a glass panel there so you can watch the inside of the elevator shaft as you go up and up and up (there are also glass windows in the side so you can see outside too), it was super cool. so we got to the observation deck and it was soo cool and linnell took zillions of pictures of course, and we played the trivia fact games for a bit and watched part of a video about how the sky tower was built (the only facts i really remember are that 1. while building the sky tower, workers ate like 245,000 meat pies and that 2. one of the major problems with the proposed tower was how they would get the crane down at the tower's completion, so a renowned kiwi engineer came out of retirement to invent a new crane system that they could use.) also, the sky tower is i think 4 m taller than the eiffel tower, and is the tallest building in the southern hemisphere.
and then we went up another few floors to the restaurant level and went in. the center part of the floor is stationary and is where the kitchen is. then the next ring out away from the kitchen walls is also stationary and is where the hostess' desk is and where the servers have little stations with water pitchers and stuff. and then the next ring from that is the actual seating and that part revolves (it was a little slower than i thought, but probably any faster would make people sick. we did make it around the whole way 1.5 times though in about 2 hours). there are two rows of seating, the inner one is booths, and the outer one is tables, and is where we got seated (i thought i would be kind of pissed if i had to sit at a booth because it's just not the same). and then there's like a foot wide ring outside of the revolving one, which is stationary, and linnell set her purse on that until she realized it was not traveling with us haha.
so we took a very long time deciding what to order and how to make as close to $60 as possible. we ended up sharing bread and olive oil, and linnell got an omelet (which is probably the best omelet i've ever had, i don't usually like them because i don't really love the eggy texture) and i got a fruit salad with yogurt and muesli (granola) and pumpkin soup. and then we also got 3 mini danishes and a croissant with honey to share too. everything was extremely delicious and the honey was sooo cool, it came in the honeycomb and then when you tried to cut through it, the liquidy part spilled out and it was just soo good. while we were eating, we saw people doing the sky walk, which is where you go up another level above orbit, and you get on harnesses and stuff and walk on a ring around the outside. when we were done eating, we had our server take our photo and then we paid ($60.50!) and left. then we went back down to the observation deck for a little while more and we played with this computer thing that had a photo of what you could see out that side of the tower, and then had points of interest on that photo, and you could just touch them and it would tell you all about whatever you had chosen. we also saw people doing the sky jump which is a "free fall" (it really isn't free fall) jump down from the sky walk level which looked pretty cool. i think i would be more nervous doing that then i was sky diving. then we decided we were ready to go, so we left and walked to this souvenir shop linnell wanted to go to and she looked at shirts (she wants one with a map of nz desperately) and i looked at boots. i figured ugg like boots would be cheaper here, and they are a little bit, but i wasn't sure if i could get mom and dad to pay for them, and maybe i'll change my mind by next winter, so i didn't get any. plus i'm not really in excess with packing space haha. the weather report had said rain for saturday which is why we had planned the sky tower for that day, so we wouldn't be walking in the rain, but after some early morning fog, it had been sunny and nice all day (which was good for the sky tower view). however, as we were walking back to ih it started pouring and we were passed by all the ih who had gone to play paintball running down the street. we had dinner at ih, and decided we didn't feel like going to the domain to watch everyone playing possum for ace's birthdays, so we had another exciting night of computer science and movies.
sunday morning we woke up and for some reason took a really long time getting dressed and ready to go, but at 10:30 we left to walk to princes warf, where the coast to coast walk started. we got there around 11, and there was a huggggee cruise ship docked, and linnell and i decided that after the mediterranean, a nice cruise is in our family vacation plans. so then we headed out, and after getting .5 km, linnell had to go potty so we went to britomart and used their bathrooms which smelled SOOO badly like beets. we headed out again and walked for a while until we got to the domain, where we had a little trouble finding where to go but we made it. sometimes there are little yellow arrows marking the coast to coast trail, and sometimes not.
then we went on to mount eden (ha ha not edna), where we went to the summit, which was really pretty, with the whole crater all intact and grassy. we had a little snacky there, and then went back down. there was this little walked on path inside the edge of the crater and linnell was like "yahhh let's do it!!!" so i let her go and i took photos, and as she was going in (past the sign that said "DANGER DO NOT go inside crater") this asian group went past us and this middle aged guy was like making noises trying to get our attention and at first we weren't sure if he was yelling at linnell or joking, but then he made the motion of like rolling down the hill, and we assumed he was joking so we laughed and kept going. linnell didn't die and we went on, getting a little lost again, but it was okay. the exit that we went out through was like in someone's driveway, but that's what the signs and our map said to do, so we did it.
then we went on to mount eden (ha ha not edna), where we went to the summit, which was really pretty, with the whole crater all intact and grassy. we had a little snacky there, and then went back down. there was this little walked on path inside the edge of the crater and linnell was like "yahhh let's do it!!!" so i let her go and i took photos, and as she was going in (past the sign that said "DANGER DO NOT go inside crater") this asian group went past us and this middle aged guy was like making noises trying to get our attention and at first we weren't sure if he was yelling at linnell or joking, but then he made the motion of like rolling down the hill, and we assumed he was joking so we laughed and kept going. linnell didn't die and we went on, getting a little lost again, but it was okay. the exit that we went out through was like in someone's driveway, but that's what the signs and our map said to do, so we did it.
we kept walking, and both of us really had to pee, and my knee was hurting (i apparently injured it last week sometime) and i wanted ice cream, and we were all around just a mess. finnnnallly we got to the bathrooms in cornwall park and took care of some of our problems there. then we went to the ice cream place there that we went before and got ice cream, and kept walking, much happier. we were going to play on the fun playground toy we played on before, but there was a huge line for it, so we kept walking. as we left cornwall park (we decided not to summit one tree hill again), we once again saw the gelato stand that we couldn't go to last time because we had just gotten ice cream in the park, and were once again quite angry. from there we walked down manukau rd for awhile, into onehunga, where we took a very short break at jellicoe park which was really cute, but i wanted to be done as soon as possible by that point so i did not let linnell look for a bathroom there. bad choice. by the time we got to the onehunga lagoon, our destination, we were both DYING for a bathroom, and luckily we found one, although it was extremely dark and scary and someone had written "fear" on the walls in both of our stalls haha.
after taking a quick victory picture by the sign at the end of the walkway, we walked to the nearest bus stop and luckily the first bus that came was going to symonds street even tho it wasn't the one linnell had written down. we got on the bus and i was feeling quite sleepy. we went home and showered and ate dinner in ih, and everyone was going to the mexican cafe by the sky tower for lucy's birthday, but i was super sleepy and linnell didn't really feel like it so we didn't. we came back and linnell did a little weeding out of stuff for me to bring home, and i skipped about 300 pages and read the last chapter of my book. then we watched "the nanny diaries" and then linnell watched some arrested development, and i fell asleep.
after taking a quick victory picture by the sign at the end of the walkway, we walked to the nearest bus stop and luckily the first bus that came was going to symonds street even tho it wasn't the one linnell had written down. we got on the bus and i was feeling quite sleepy. we went home and showered and ate dinner in ih, and everyone was going to the mexican cafe by the sky tower for lucy's birthday, but i was super sleepy and linnell didn't really feel like it so we didn't. we came back and linnell did a little weeding out of stuff for me to bring home, and i skipped about 300 pages and read the last chapter of my book. then we watched "the nanny diaries" and then linnell watched some arrested development, and i fell asleep.
this morning we've woken up and are both sitting on our computers. i have to shower and finish packing, and then i'm have to catch a 2 oclock bus to the airport. byyeeee
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