Thrash and I have just returned from our business trip to Auckland. It was a very successful trip but very tiring! Here are some highlights and some lowlights from our trip.
We drove up to Auckland via Hamilton - a potential lowlight which actually became a highlight for two reasons: one was the lunch we had at a restaurant/bar/cafe called Gothenburg. We ordered a selection of tapas which we thoroughly enjoyed, I highly recommend this restaurant. Our second highlight was our meeting which was the reason we didn't bypass Hamilton as we usually do - needless to say it was very successful.
On to Auckland - we stayed at the Waipuna Hotel where we have stayed previously. We stayed in a suite as we required space to work while on this trip - we tend to travel with numerous computers and various IT paraphernalia as we never really escape our daily workload. The highlight of the Waipuna was the room - we had space to spread out and Thrash & I had our own areas to "plug-in" and work without disturbing each other any more than usual.
The service at the Waipuna is rather interesting - ranging from none to overly much! When we arrived with all our luggage and equipment we needed a trolley to take it to our room - we loaded the trolley and proceeded to try to push and steer it into the lift, out of the lift, down the corridor and into our room - nowhere was there a porter to assist us and we definitely did not have the skills required to do this without banging and crashing into walls, doors and cupboards along the way! - a lowlight. Once in our room we checked everything out and Thrash typically checked anything technological including the TV - would it allow us to plug anything in? How does it work? What channels? What movies are on offer? Lo and behold it tells us we do not exist and therefore cannot use it! - interestingly enough this is the second time in two weeks this has happened, the last time was the Museum hotel in Wellington, but that is another story. Thrash contacted reception and they sorted the problem out for us - good service! After settling in (about half an hour) we get a tentative knock at the door - I open it to find a women standing there holding out a card and a chocolate, welcoming us to the hotel.... interesting.
That evening we ordered food in our room, we were tired from a long day travelling and meeting people - we only wanted something light so we ordered a Ceasar salad and something else which neither of us can remember so it can't have been that great - however the Ceasar salad was a highlight - it was very delicious! We had breakfast the next morning in the restaurant, we wanted to order from the a la carte menu - something which I think the staff found rather odd - we were asked several times if we would prefer to have breakfast from the buffet which we did not. We both had eggs benedict which was just fine - coffee wasn't so great though. The restaurant at the Waipuna is an area that has "overly much" service. While eating our eggs benedict one waitress approached us and asked if we wanted toast with that???? Unusual to say the least. Also when we dined there for dinner that night there were at least as many waiters as there were diners so they were falling all over themselves to be helpful, even though most diners were eating from the buffet! Water was being poured left right and centre, plates were being cleared the moment the cutlery was placed on the empty plate, the waiters were lined up hawkeyed watching the diners, ready for any move that might indicate they were required. Amongst all this, we once again were an oddity as we ordered a la carte. The waitress who took our order was prompted by Thrash to ask how he wanted his steak done and proceeded to ask me if I would like my lamb medium rare also - Thrash's steak was a disaster however my lamb was OK.
I hate being in Auckland - the traffic is insane and it takes forever to get from A to B. the day we were leaving we had to travel into the city for a meeting at 9am - having guaged that this would require us to spend a long period of time crawling with the traffic on the motorway we changed the time of our meeting to 9.45. We still took half an hour to get there but it must have been a lot better than the earlier time - how do Aucklanders live like that?
We had two nights in Taupo which was less stressful than Auckland - less traffic - really good coffee at the Streetwise Coffee 2 go in Taupo! We stayed at a motor lodge beside the lake - not as good as the suite at the Waipuna, but we had privacy and some space to work.
The biggest highlight of our trip? Getting home!
Another trip next week, then the week after that - ho hummm. Looking forward to November - I think we may get to stay home for at least 3 weeks!
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