Lucas and I made the trip up to Auckland to give a talk at the
Body Positive Retreat in Long Bay. I gave a simple talk on healthy living and an acupuncture demo and Lucas gave an awesome talk on depression. We felt really lucky to be apart of the retreat and had a great time. We arrived Saturday, gave our talks, had some lunch, and then headed out to explore Auckland. We made it to a highly recommended bakery in Mt Eden called Olaf's - damn, it was amazing and ate at various delicious spots in the Ponsonby district. We also did a big city walk, making it to the top of One Tree Hill that has both more trees and sheep than expected.
I remember one of my first conversations with a Wellingtonian about, what he felt was, the country's general consensus on Auckland
"Well...I guess if you like stuff to do, better and warmer weather, lots of places to eat, like to shop, need to do a lot of international travel...I guess you'd like Auckland but Wellington is better"
After he said this - I immediately thought "I like almost all that stuff". After spending a weekend in Auckland I realized without a doubt I'm a city girl. I like cafes to stay open late (which means past 4pm), lots of restaurants to choose from, a large variety of thrifts stores, being surrounded by a large diversity of ethnicities, the flexibility and energy that has to go when living with a large population, and surprisingly the grittiness that big cities can provide. That concrete jungle seems to call my name louder than I would have admitted a year ago.
We didn't consider Auckland when moving to New Zealand because we thought it would be just another big city. At the time we were thinking we needed something different from our normal life just not too different so we narrowed it down to Wellington. I have to wonder, if we had settled in Auckland - would I have liked my time in New Zealand more? I'm currently working on a list of things I will miss about New Zealand and to counter that, my major gripes. One list (the cons) is far out weighing the pros right now but I wonder, would Auckland have helped to tip the scales in the other direction?
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| We also found several pamphlets with Lucas's talk underlined |
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| the water was nice enough for a swim |
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| Lucas rockn' his talk on depression |
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| View from our hotel |
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| Lucas, park sculpture, city tower |
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| some sort of pork belly with a lentil chili - completely amazing |
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| mini bike |
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| The graves weren't moved but the headstones were to make room for the bridge |
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| delicious coffee |
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| Olaf's Bakery |
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| Sheep of One Tree Hill |
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| One Tree Hill |
