So the plan this weekend was to go scuba diving at poor knights, north of Auckland. Apparently one of the best dive spot in NZ. Unfortunately on Friday morning, news came through of a big cyclone due to hit exactly the spot that we were diving at. So, with the diving off we were left without a plan for the weekend. Si was sorted as he had already booked to go down to Christchurch with James to visit a friend.
After being a bit annoyed that the weekend was off (and with no-where to stay in Auckland on Friday night) My boss suggested that I get a hotel room for me and Gem and we spoil ourselves for the night. So I decided to do it in style.....I picked Gem up after my mammoth trip of getting up to Auckland and took her to the Langham for the night. Complete 5 star indulgence package, where we had full valet service awaiting us, champagne in our room, and full use of the spa facilities. After cracking open the champagne, we headed up to the spa for a few hours, swimming in the rain then enjoying the sauna and jacuzzi! After that we dolled ourselves up and went for an AMAZING dinner where we picked our own choice of fresh fish, meat...well whatever we wanted an it was all cooked up in front of us, complete with fresh pancakes, waffles and chocolate fountain to finish...um, um ummmm!
The next morning we got up bright and early to enjoy more use of the spa facilities before a full buffet type swanky breakfast (which we both felt we under achieved on:(
At 10am we headed off down to Mt Maunganui for a spot of climbing and surfing with a few of Gems climbing friends (a few of the people who were scheduled to be on the dive trip). After 4 hours (due to road closures and queues) we arrived to find that the access to the climbing walls had been closed due to land slips from the cyclones. We then thought about surfing but the swell was over 8ft and far too dangerous for the likes of me! After having lunch and feeling downtrodden about our weekend we researched other things to do and found a wall about 1.5hrs away that we thought if we got up early we could make the most of the next day.
So that evening we went and enjoyed ourselves in the hot pools before heading out for dinner and a relatively early night!
Sunday we got up at 6am and packed up the tents to head off climbing.......and what a climb site it was. Towering 80ft walls straight from the beach - absolute paradise, AND we were the only ones on the beach, in the most perfect weather conditions. Could not ask for more. Had probably one of my best days in Nez Zealand (and thats saying something!)Little did we know that you can only get off the beach at low tide so we were stranded in paradise for 10 hours - shame. By the time we got off the beach it was getting dark so we headed back to Auckland.
Monday was spent having lunch with a good friend of Gems as well as helping her sort through a load of bits and pieces.
So all in all - a great weekend for backup plan 4!!
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