Angus and Julia Stone were only playing one concert in NZ this year – and as per usual it was not in Wellington. So Hamish and I decided (I decided) that it would be a good excuse to have a long weekend in Auckland. Naturally, for a long weekend you want to make the most of every minute you have on holiday. We were amped to get up to Auckland ASAP on the friday night so we could go out and have a few drinks. However, Air NZ ruined those plans for us. Turning up to the airport to be told that they had flown the wrong plane to Welly, and couldn’t fit 40 of us on the flight was a bit of a let down. So we had to wait around for over an hour and a half for a flight to be redirected. Maybe Jetstar is not so bad?

Once we finally got to Auckland we had a lovely welcome from Louie the chihuahua – such a cutie. This cheered me up.

The next morning I woke up refreshed and ready to take on Auckland. We went out for brunch at Dear Jervois in Herne Bay. I was like a kid in a candy store, I was freaking out as there were so many things I wanted to try.

I settled on a peanut butter smoothie and a soy latte for the drinks and for breakfast I had the balsamic mushrooms. This was insanely good!! I’m going to try re-create this dish.
The rest of the day consisted of shopping in Parnell. I was good and only bought one thing; a playsuit from Area 51.

Orphan’s Kitchen in Ponsonby was the destination planned for dinner. They were mentioned in the Cuisine Restaurant of the year awards, so I was keen to check them out.

Gnudi for entré

Hamish and I both had the lamb neck for main, and Rosie had the fish.

On sunday Rosie, Anna and I went for brunch at Rosie; while waiting for a table we went for a quick stroll down to the water.

Smashed Eggs at Rosie

After lunch we went on a sunday stroll along St Helier’s Beach and up to the look out.

I love all of the trees in Auckland

To continue the foodie weekend, Hamish and I went to Baduzzi for dinner. This is Ben Bayley’s restaurant – a judge on NZ’s version of My Kitchen Rules (on tele at the moment). We had crayfish meatballs to start the meal – they were amazing!!!

We then gorged on a duck ragu and squid ink risotto.

Finally it was time for Angus and Julia Stone – the main event for the weekend!!

Angus was a bit absent from the show, but Julia was amazing. Her voice was so good it was haunting. She engaged with the audience a lot, including a few annoying drunk old men. The night was dreamy. Their music sounded even better live.

On our last day we went for a quick lunch at Chuffed before shooting to the airport.

I had the most delicious granola with manuka honey and poached pears – this has inspired me to make some more granola!