Project Honeymoon - Day 4: Parnell Village & Diwali Festival

Hubby read about Parnell Village from our travel book and described it as Auckland's version of Yaletown to me...little boutique shops and nice restaurants.  It's a nice walk from the hotel and we can walk through Albert Park near Auckland University on our way there.  Then, downtown, they are celebrating Diwali (Indian Festival of Lights) in the streets which we can check out later.

8:30am - Breakfast at the hotel (buffet breakfast included with our rate).  I'm sorry to say that this is probably the worst buffet breakfast I've ever had.  I definitely wouldn't pay the $22.50/person at regular price, but at the $7/person extra it cost us for the room rate, it's ok.  Any meat is luke warm.  Eggs are rubbery.  The only thing I really like is the fresh yogurt, muesli, and fruit. 

10:30am - Walk to Parnell Village.  The stroll is nice.  The weather has cooperated with us so far.  It's mostly sunny, sometimes the clouds come over and there's a little breeze, just like spring in Vancouver.  In Albert Park we find some people doing Tai Chi and others in fatigues practicing self-defense.  The walk is a bit hilly, especially to Parnell Village.

11:30am - Put down that hat and shoes!  Hubby was right, Parnell has a lot of cute shops and restaurants.  I almost bought myself a leather outdoors hat and then some cute sandals, but told myself there's still lots of places to go shopping to find some extraordinary keepsakes to bring home.  Besides, we have one more day in Auckland at the end of our 3-weeks just before we fly back home.

12:30pm - Lunch at Verve.  We pick the busiest restaurant on the strip to eat at, figuring that it must have good food.  And it was a good :)  Hubby had a steak sandwich and I had the penne with bacon and mushroom.  When they say "steak" sandwich, it truly is a steak in between two slices of bread.  At home, we get steak slices, here it was an actual steak that was so tender you had no troubles biting through it...yum!  Lunch did cost us $45, but all the eateries in Parnell were pretty much in that price range.  Hubby and I were also getting used to the fact that food is kinda expensive in NZ.

1:30pm - Walk back to downtown.  We come across the signature scent of a chinese market and lo and behold a chinese market just like the ones back home.  Just a block down we also see a whole bunch of English language schools.  We stop into one of the chinese stores because I see a display of Manuka honey.  Someone back home told me I must get this honey from NZ that starts with an "M".  Hubby finds something else more interesting in the store..."Deer Pizzle" is what it says on the label.  In the package you see a long dried organ with two bulbs at one end...hmmm.  Aargh...I totally should have taken a photo!

3:30pm - Back at the hotel and hubby takes a rest.  I decide to go to the Diwali festival.  I noticed some people walking around with mendi on them and I wanted to get some done on myself.

4:00pm - Waiting in line to get mehndi.  There's actually quite a few tents at the festival that offer mehndi starting at $5.  The one I chose would do your whole hand for $10.  When I saw a girl walk out with her hand beautifully done, I was sold.  I had to wait 40minutes, but it was well worth it.  The first photo is of the artist doing someone else's hand, the second photo is my hand.

5:00pm - Decide to do a bit of shopping without hubby.  I'm free as a bird!  Ha ha...jk.  I actually didn't buy anything.  Stores were closing, but I managed to checkout some souvenir shops.  There's a magazine shop called "Mag Nation" similar to the magazine shop in Kitsilano.  I stopped in to see what NZ magazines are like.  I couldn't believe how expensive magazines are.   Actually, local magazines are quite reasonable at $6, but anything imported is at least $13 and I saw some even as expensive as $22...outrageous!