After we checked into our lodge in Auckland, we headed out for a quick hike before dinner at Mount Eden. It is an incredibly popular short hike here in Auckland and there are many tourist and locals around.
You get the best panoramic views from the top of Mount Eden and has a mix of level paths and steep paths and steps.
This hike is suitable for those who have average fitness and will take about an hour to hike (about 4.8km). You start the hike at Owens Road.
Once you reach the top, not only will you see the most amazing view of the city, but also the Volcano crater located there too.
After hiking it was time for dinner, so we drove back to Auckland city and decided to have Thai food at The Blue Elephant.
It was a cute little restaurant, tucked away into the Parnell Village. The staff were super friendly and were also dressed in Thai clothing too! It was very intriguing as we never see this kind of stuff in Sydney.
We were given complimentary chips as we were deciding on what to eat that night. We were super hungry so this helped settled our stomachs as we waited for our main meal to come out.
We also got a glass of wine each, one white and one red. I cannot remember which exact ones we got but they went well with our meal.
One of the main reasons why my boyfriend and I decided to eat out that night was because the next day it would be our dating month-ary day and we wanted to celebrate it a day, earlier as we would be flying to Queenstown the following day.
We ordered Satay chicken (4pcs for NZ$12.90), which was grilled skewers of marinated yellow curry chicken and topped with Blue Elephant peanut satay sauce. We were actually craving this dish so much and it was quite delicious, especially their peanut sauce! Super thick and creamy, yet it had some texture to it too, plus it tasted WONDERFUL!!
We ordered the Blue Elephant Red Duck Curry(NZ$28.90), which was sliced roasted duck in a Thai red curry with coconut milk, tomatoes, pineapple, grapes, capsicum and Thai longan fruit. This was recommended by the waitress who was serving us that night and it was definitely a good choice indeed. It was full of flavours and different texture, yet everything was in harmony with one another.
The last dish we ordered was their Blue Elephant Spicy Crispy Pork(NZ$29.90). It is their specially made crispy pork stir fried with basil leaves, fresh chilli, broccoli, bamboo shoots, green beans, capsicum and garlic in spicy Blue Elephant sauce. Another wonderful dish and this is also one of my favourite Thai dishes I love ordering.
After dinner, we went to check out the Lunar New Year lantern festival happening in the Auckland Domain. They had more than 800 homemade Chinese lanterns, live stage performances, traditional festivities, food and more! Here are a few lanterns that I took a photo of~
Monkey King #1
Goddess on the Moon
Dragon
Cute little Chinese people!
& more monkey king's to celebrate the Year of the Fire Monkey!!
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[130616] Hey guys! So we had a long weekend to celebrate the Queen's birthday and so yesterday (Sunday) and today I went hiking with the boyfriend. Yesterday we did half of the Great North Walk, from Pennant Hills to Macquarie and today we just did a small walk around Cherrybrook. Last week I have been super busy with interviews and all, I hadn't had time to record new stuff for my youtube channel so I do apologise. I'm hoping this week I will be able to get some filming done for you guys even though I'm sure it will be another jammed-packed week of interviews and friends' graduation ceremonies! Anyways I shall talk to you all soon!
The following morning, after our hiking adventure in Te Anu, we went back to our Black Water Rafting tour to see if the we were able to go onto the tour. Luckily for us the weather was good enough for us to explore the caves on our tour!
First step was to learn how to jump into the water with our donut tube! I was first to demonstrate how it was done! You can see how happy I am in the photo!!
Next my boyfriend and I had to demonstrate how we were to form a link when we got into the caves. By this point we were just super excited!!
Now this is a photo we took just before we started our adventures and I'm looking super duper excited whereas my boyfriend pulled the "uhh...you sure" face. We had an amazing time exploring the caves and finding glowworms along the way. However it does get quite chilly down there, but our wetsuits do keep us warm! Our tour guides also shared their chocolate fish snacks with us as a treat and source of energy to keep us going!
Once our tour was over, we took one last photo with our group, who were actually a tour group from Germany! We managed to grab our tour photo's from their tour guide Ingrid who was so kind to share them with us! After this photo it was time to shower and warm up with some soup.
We started making our way back to Auckland and along the way we decided to have a lunch pit stop in Hamilton.
We went to a cute cafe called The District for brunch. We haven't brunch-ed at all during this trip so it was definitely exciting for me and my boyfriend.
I ordered a Chai Spicy latte and this is what made me fell in love with chai latte's! Ever since I came back from New Zealand my go to coffee's are either a mocha or chai latte! It is just so good! It has that perfect blend of sweet and spicy, plus it is velvety smooth too. I highly recommend trying it if you're past by Hamilton!
As for lunch, both my boyfriend and I had ordered a salad each. Both were presented beautifully yet prices are very similar to Sydney's aka. quite pricey.
The boyfriend ordered the Chicken salad(NZ$18) which came with cos lettuce, avocado, sundried tomato, pancetta, shaved fennel and parmesan (G.F). This salad was very flavourful as the dressing was practically mixed in just before the dish was served. The avocado had coated the chicken, giving it a butter smooth finish and the lettuce was crunchy and fresh too.
I had ordered off their Lunch Special menu and got the Smoked duck and watercress salad (NZ$21), cranberries, cashews and orange with raspberry vinaigrette.
My salad was definitely more colourful compared to my boyfriend's Chicken salad, and taste-wise it was beautiful too! I absolutely loved the different textures on the plate. I wish the duck had a more smokier taste, but it was well cooked and the flavours of the sweet fruits made this dish more refreshing!
After lunch, we headed back to Auckland and checked into our accommodation, where we had also chosen to stay at Haka Lodge too. We had our very own bathroom in our room, which was GREAT!!
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[090616]
Good morning everyone! Yesterday I had a full on day, with 3 interviews within the city and I was literally going back and forth between Wynyard and Townhall. However I am super happy and grateful for all these interviews, but I do hope to land myself with one of these jobs soon! I also just got an email to go ahead with another company with a video interview this week. So I will be a bit busy over the next few weeks but I will try and get my video's up on time for you guys!! Watch my latest daily vlog which I uploaded yesterday!
Winter is officially here in Sydney and we literally had a crazy weekend with the torrential rain and wind. As the days get colder, it makes it the perfect weather to have ramen for lunch and lucky for me, last week I was invited by Washouku Lovers to eat at the Japanese restaurant called Manpuku, at Kingsford. They have a few locations around Sydney, making it accessible to a wider community.
The restaurant name means "Millions of Happiness or Luck" which reflects their values for their store, staff, customers and food. They specialise in ramen dishes but do offer some other dishes too! The chef of Manpuku had recommended the following ramen's as they were either super popular or delicious; #2 Sho Gara, #6 Gyokai Tonkotsu & #7 Shiawase Ramen.
I decided to get #2. Sho Gara with pork belly, bean sprouts, bamboo shoots (mema), shallots, seaweed sheet and homemade Manpuku original noodles in salt base chicken soup (AUD$13.50). The broth is so clear and aromatic. It has a flavourful yet light taste whereas the ramen were cooked to perfection, bouncy and not too mushy, and the pork was well seasoned.
When having this ramen it is best eaten with the pepper that they offer with it. It is white pepper blended with powdered dried Ramen topping menma (bamboo), dried garlic and onion.
Stephy ordered #7. Kono deaini kanshashite aijou jonetsu komete isshoukenmei tsukata uchirano icchan sukina manpuku shiawase ramen (AUD$14.50). The name of the ramen is quite the mouthful! The broth of this ramen is much thicker and intense compared to the previous one. It is a soy based chicken and pork soup with pork belly, bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, shallots, seaweed sheet, egg and homemade Manpuku ramen.
We also ordered a side of Kaarage chicken (AUD$5.50) and their Wing Gyoza (AUD$6.90). The Kaarage chicken, as seen, was a bit overcooked (I'm assuming the oil was a bit too hot!), so the chicken was a tad dry.
However, the Wing gyoza was a juicy surprise. The flavours were so unique due to the combination of two different meats yet it tasted so right! It could do with a little less terriyaki sauce on the top, but it was delicious!!
Next up was dessert time!! We ordered 3 different dessert; 2 x chilled cream green tea mochi, green tea mousse and a porunga.
The skin of the green tea mochi (AUD$2.50/each) had reminded me of the one I had in Nara, but less elasticity. It was quite lovely and a great way to end the meal!
The green tea mousse(AUD$5.90) is more heavier compared to the mochi. I could taste the thick cream and matcha in the smooth and soft texture of the mousse.
The porunga(AUD$3), which looks like the fish-shaped taiyaki, has a deep fried layer which covers the warm red bean paste in the middle. It is a popular snack at the store, however I do prefer the texture of the traditional taiyaki.
If you are a member with Washoku Lovers, you can redeem 50% off egg toppings or kaedama noodle refills. But if you're a student, flash your student ID card and get the noodle refills for FREE!
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[070616]
Hello everyone! Sorry I haven't been blogging over the last week, as it was my last week of uni and I did have a few assessments to get done! I am finally done with uni!! I cannot believe how fast this semester went by and I am now on the hunt for full time jobs! It's going to be a tough half year but I'm sure that I will find something that I will enjoy!
