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We woke with some serious sightseeing to do but first we needed to wash what felt like our entire wardrobe. Bubbles laundrette was positioned a significantly sweaty walk across town but it did allow us to grab a breakfast waffle during the wash cycle and a walk around the harbour whilst tumbling. By the time we had lugged the laundry back to the room I was hot and grouchy but luckily both of these ailments were cured by a cold shower and redressing in a more appropriate outfit, fresh from the clean clothes bag.
We headed straight to the sky tower and shot to the 52nd and then the 56th floor from where the views were as stunning as expected. We took in 360 degrees of Auckland, including the gut wrenching glass floor before sitting down for lunch on the 51st with a stunning view, and the entertainment of watching people doing the sky walk around the suspended ring around the viewing floor and others jumping off attached to the equivalent of Chris's ABD.
I had a brief shopping spree before returning to the marina for a coffee and to marvel at the old Americas Cup boats bobbing at their moorings in the sunshine. It was a fantastic day to finish the NZ leg of our journey but our evening plans would blow the rest of the day out of the water.
We attempted to pack our bags and then got dressed up for supper, arriving at the exclusive Sugar Club on the 53rd floor of the sky tower looking the epitome of 'smart chique' as dictated by the dress code. We rode up the private glass floored elevator and were seated in splendour with the amber evening sunlight making the 180 degrees of Auckland between us and the setting sun glow and sparkle.
The food was sensational and consisted of a chargrilled scallop mis-en-bouche, followed by 6 tasting dishes all with extensive explanation and attentive service whilst watching Auckland light up. We revelled in the fusions of paua and capers, crayfish and saffron linguine, pork belly, Peking duck, beef fillet and panko crusted whitebait whilst reflecting on what a change the last 7 weeks had been from the ones before. After a palate clensing sorbet concoction and having wondered at the urinals with portholes overlooking the other side of the city we were descending and joined the general bustling flow of people heading to the Vector Arena.
The crowd was a true cross section and after Bob was finally satisfied that the tickets she had bought for my birthday were genuine as they allowed us entry to our awesomely positioned seats we sat back and appreciated the buzzing pre-concert tension in the huge arena.
The warm up act was Jamie Lawson, and was very well received but the people in that stadium were only there for one guy and when he finally stepped out into the stage the noise was deafening!
I wasn't quite sure what to expect but he delivered it. A true artist he built the atmosphere throughout, with each song being layered on a loop pedal, using the guitar as every part of the band from the strings to percussion and finally just layers of volume! The crescendo of noise and atmosphere was at its pinnacle for the kiwi favourite 'I see fire' and he closed with the entire audience bouncing to 'sing' as we danced in our seats. My face hurt from smiling as the lights came up and it was the most fantastic end to our NZ trip. We wandered back through the city, picking up a hot chocolate which tucked us into bed perfectly, big smiles ingrained on our faces.
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