Kia ora! Hello!

This post is a little bit different to my usual, as it was a work trip, but I tried to fit in as much as I can regarding food spots. So for my fellow work travellers, if you find yourself in Auckland this is a brief itinerary of spots to visit during/outside of your work day. For full transparency, I have traveled to Auckland a few times which makes it a bit easier to navigate your way around and already have some places in mind to check out.

The trip was off to a terrible start when I woke at 5am to see a message on my phone to say the flight was cancelled. I was heading up for an event we were organising whilst trying to fit in as much networking as I could with stakeholders as work travel opportunities are hard to come by. Thankfully with it being a work trip, a quick call and I could get the flight rebooked but what was going to be a 36hr trip, shrunk to 30hrs.

Day 1:

• Dinner - Ghost Donkey

  I love the food court at Commercial Bay, and this is around the outer edge of it. Mexican food which you cannot go wrong with! Neon lights, great cocktails, delicious food…..what more do you need?!

• Cocktails - Caretaker

  A hidden little bar where I had no idea where my colleagues were leading us! An unmarked door on the street with some stairs under ground and you end up in a dimly lit cocktail bar. They don’t have a set drink menu so you can be boring and ask for a standard drink, or you can go through a series of questions and get a surprise - highly recommend! Such a cool wee vibe, loved it here.

Day 2:

• Coffee - Little Albert Coffee

  Because no day can start without caffeine! This is a cute little shop where you can only get takeaways, but they were lovely and served really good coffee. As a Wellingtonian you end up being a bit of a coffee snob, and this place gets a tick from me.

• Lunch - Kai Eatery

  Commercial Bay food court again, like I said I love this place! An XL Chicken Nugget that was as big as my face and peri-peri chips *chefs kiss* If you are ever hungry and in Auckland CBD this foodcourt is a must! Head upstairs and there is a large range of food - dumplings, pasta, fish and chips, varieties of chicken, burgers and noodles just to briefly name a few. This isn’t one of those average mall food courts, it sets a new bar where I think all food courts should meet to be appealing to customers.

• Coffee - Starbucks

  Don’t @ me on this one! It is consistent, you always know the quality you are guaranteed to get and I have quite the sweet tooth so a frappe with rice cream just ticks so many boxes for me.

No trip to Auckland is complete without a snap of the Sky City Tower, from whatever angle you can get, and I got a few. We stayed at the Rydges which was nice and local. I recommend staying as close to Queen St as you can, keep in mind that the side streets off Queen St are all uphill which isn’t always ideal. Queen Street is full of shops so there is plenty of shopping to be done on your lunch break or quickly between meetings - that’s if anyone can shop quickly??? Heading down to the Viaduct you have a heap of food restaurants and bars so if you do have time to head round that way for dinner, be a great idea!